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The Velocity Fire Force Tanker

velocity a KTTV

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A HOLLYWOOD STUNT-MAN HAS DEVELOPED WHAT HE THINKS could be a valuable resource for the incessant wildfires that occur in California and elsewhere every year. George Sack has built a specially-designed tanker truck that blasts water and retardant ahead of oncoming flames. Dubbed by Sack as the Velocity Fire Force, it has a shotgun-style nozzle that lays down a blanket of water or fire retardant up to 200 ft. away to act as a barrier to fire spread.

KTTV Ch. 11 filed this video report on his innovative tanker:

Sack has spent about five years developing and building his truck and has offered to sub-contract it to fire protection agencies for firefighting duty. So far he hasn’t been able to convince any of them to try his approach.

Velocity Fire Force has a website HERE and has also produced this promotional video:

Posted by firegeezer on December 15, 2009 • Filed under: Vehicle Operations & Apparatus, Videos, Wildland, apparatus • Tagged: fire retardant, George Sack, tanker, Velocity Fire Force, wildfires

Thinking Outside the (Fire)Box

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UNFORTUNATELY THE DESIGNER OF THE AMATOYA fire suppression vehicle doesn’t seem to realize just how much water you need in a wildland fire when you’re miles away from a source. But we like his design as a starting point for what could become a practical firefighting vehicle if it’s efficiently outfitted.

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The vehicle is described by Liam Ferguson, the designer as: Amatoya is a concept reconnaissance and suppression vehicle that gives us a new approach to fire-fighting. This highly advanced and specialized light tanker functions primarily as a reconnaissance vehicle and offers unmatched vehicle and crew safety/survivability. It promises to be the best front line defense during the scene of an emergency. He is obviously working with wildland firefighting in mind and is approaching it from European viewpoint.

He continues:

Cabin temperature and vehicle survivability are central to the AMATOYA concept. Existing approaches in survival engineering on fire tankers consistently appears as augmentation rather than integration. Methods are passive, typically reactive and often incapacitate the appliance when in use. A key example is the use of curtain heat shields, while effective, when employed render the appliance out of operation.

To create a homogenous directive towards survivability AMATOYA incorporates state of the art clear aerogel laminated insulation in the windows and bodywork, a dedicated auxiliary water supply to operate a highly efficient, intelligent temperature controlled spray down system, military grade sacrificial thermo ceramic intumescent paints, and a mechanically injected large displacement diesel engine specifically engineered for the unique conditions experienced on the fire ground.

These measures will assure that even in the case of an extremely prolonged and high intensity burnover the vehicle will not only maintain cabin integrity, but opposed to existing appliances AMATOYA will remain fully operational.

The concept is explained in more detail along with a lot more photos and diagrams on the YankoDesign WEBSITE HERE. Check it out and decide for yourself whether there is any potential in the design.

Posted by firegeezer on December 7, 2009 • Filed under: Fire Rescue Topics, Wildland, apparatus • Tagged: Amatoya, firefighting vehicle, Liam Ferguson

Around the Fire Web

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* The FireEMS Blogs community is growing with the addition of two more quality blogs to the community. Wildfire Today, one of Firegeezer’s favorites, has now joined the group and with that site coupled with Firefighter Blog, we have the best wildfire news and coverage available on the web. You can link to both of them, like all the other “members” directly from the FireEMSBlogs homepage or by logging in directly as you have in the past.

The other new site is parked over on the EMS side, MedicThree. Offering a unique viewpoint on active EMS operations, I think you’ll find it a good read, too. So Firegeezer and FossilMedic welcome both of them to the Fire and EMS gateway to the web.

* The ick is starting to seep out of the box in Bourne, Massachusetts, and Dave Statter has been keeping us up-to-date daily on the racy situation in the fire department. A new bombshell was dropped yesterday, keeping the story alive. Catch today’s episode at STATter911 HERE and then click on the picture of the happy blonde. (at least she was happy when the pic was snapped.)

* Fire Daily has a good article on the arrival of the warship USS New York in NYC the other day. A nice story with links to a couple of videos HERE.

Posted by firegeezer on November 4, 2009 • Filed under: EMS Topics, Fire Blogs, Wildland

DirectTV Jams it to Wildfire Victims

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BACK IN AUGUST WHEN THE “STATION” FIRE roared through Los Angeles County, more than 70 homes were destroyed, most of them reduced to nothing more than ashes. Several of them were satellite tv customers of the leading service DirectTV, a large corporation that apparently needs to work a bit harder on their customer relations policies.

Following the fire, DirectTV started charging the fire victims for the cost of their satellite receivers that are technically property of the service provider. David Lazarus of the Los Angeles Times tells:

Ken Gray lost everything in August when his two-bedroom cabin burned to the ground in the devastating Station fire, the largest blaze in recorded Los Angeles County history.

The last thing he figured he needed to worry about were the two satellite-TV receivers consumed by the flames.

DirecTV had other ideas. The company deducted $279.87 from Gray’s bank account to cover the cost of its burned-to-a-crisp boxes, plus taxes.

“It’s hard to believe,” Gray, 63, told me. “What I’d like to do is take a shovel full of ashes from my cabin and dump it on their desk. They can have their receivers back.”

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Ken Gray surveys his entertainment center in this
L. A. Times photo by Jordan Grout

Following the destruction, Gray did the responsible thing and called DirectTV to tell them what happened and why he was canceling his account. Then after seeing that his bank account had been charged, he called customer service. Lazarus continues:

“They said it was a non-return fee for my two satellite boxes,” Gray recalled. “They said it wasn’t negotiable.”

He asked to speak with a supervisor and got the same response. In fact, Gray said, he was told that DirecTV was actually doing him a favor. He said the supervisor claimed he could have been billed as much as $400 for allowing his receivers to be roasted.

Now that they’ve been exposed by the Times, though, DirectTV has gone into damage-control and backed off charging the disaster victims for their failure to return their boxes. Mr. Gray has had his funds returned to his account and the company is claiming to be taking measures to prevent this (publicity nightmare?) from happening again. You can read the entire STORY HERE.