We get a lot of questions about our fire fighting jobs, so we thought we should post this informative article – I think we’ve covered just about everything!
Pennine are located in the heart of a vast open moorland area and have an excellent reputation for offering a quick response in dealing with moorland / forest fires, utilising a unique ‘Kestrel’ bucket, in association with the company’s Bell LongRanger helicopter. This bucket is used extensively on the Continent, however we own and operate the only one in this country.
The implementation of the Crow Act, granting the public much wider access to moorland areas, greatly increases the risk of fires in these areas, both accidental and deliberate, and Pennine are ideally situated to assist with the additional demands this places on the Fire Service. Pennine are also able to provide a full back-up service, including:
1) WHY USE A HELICOPTER?
· Quick response – always essential in fire fighting situations
· Aerial reconnaissance to assess the situation, enabling the most effective deployment of resources
· Rapid transfer of staff to otherwise inaccessible locations, both reducing the risk of fatigue and injury caused by walking, and enabling fire fighting from the ground to commence more quickly
· Delivery of equipment, e.g. pumps, mobile dams, which would otherwise not be transportable to remote locations
· Supplying water to and water bombing the immediate source of fire
· Ability to ferry food and water to staff for sustenance on longer jobs
· Targeted and effective fire management, either to assist ground staff in containing the fire rapidly, or to address areas considered too hazardous for staff on the ground to tackle.
2) TYPE OF HELICOPTER
Our Bell LongRanger helicopter (one of only five of its type in this country) is comfortably capable of lifting 550kg. The power and manoeuvrability of the machine makes it a very fast and efficient helicopter for fire fighting work. As a six passenger helicopter, it is useful for ferrying firemen, gamekeepers, staff, etc. onto the moor to inaccessible places where the fire has arisen and for returning them to base at the end of a hard-working day!
We are a ‘Public Transport’ category of company, having our own ‘Air Operators Licence’ and as such are legally allowed to transport passengers on fire fighting operations. Helicopter companies merely operating under an ‘Aerial Work Licence’ are not allowed to carry any passengers, even press FOC, for media coverage. The helicopter operates with one hour’s fuel on board plus a reserve of half an hour.
3) THE KESTREL BUCKET
The major difference between the Kestrel bucket we operate and conventional buckets is the control we have over the water. A helicopter is a very expensive piece of equipment to hire and charges by the hour. With fire fighting the bulk of the time is taken up collecting water and returning to the fire, with only a small percentage of the time actually spent discharging water. If the water is not discharged 100% effectively then the whole of the time spent on that one cycle is wasted.
The Kestrel bucket is able to make each cycle 100% effective by controlling and interrupting the flow of water at will, unlike a conventional bucket which, once the flow of water has started, cannot be controlled and more importantly cannot be stopped if the water misses the target, or to conserve water for other areas.
It works extremely successfully on heather fires, where the intensity of the heat makes it difficult to tackle the fire from the ground and on peat fires, where the force of dumping a load of water in one amount often causes small cinders to spread, resulting in subsidiary fires.
Technical Details:
> 500 litre capacity
> Controlled spray discharge 20 x 200 metres in 20 – 120 seconds (adjustable)
> Rapid dump discharge 25 x 35 metres in 3 seconds
> Filling is by dunking in lake, river, portable dam, or by hose from hydrant/tanker
> The unit will also disperse other liquids and powders
The Kestrel further maximises its efficiency when releasing a controlled spray of water which, unlike a constant stream, is diffused and therefore converts more readily to steam – one of the most effective agents to starve a fire of oxygen and rapidly extinguish the blaze. Clearly it can be seen that whilst the Kestrel is a very much more sophisticated and expensive piece of equipment than conventional buckets, its effectiveness is infinitely superior, resulting in a lower hire charge for the helicopter and very much less fire damage to the environment.
4) GROUND SUPPORT
We provide a ground support fuel unit, comprised of a 110 Land Rover towing one of our two specialist aviation fuel bowsers, capable of holding 2200 litres of fuel, with a 30m hose. The bowser ensures the integrity of the fuel and enables the overall weight to be kept low, therefore giving the helicopter plenty of spare power.
H1 Category fire and rescue equipment, to cover public transport work, is housed in the Land Rover together with emergency spill kits. Ground crew with ground to air radios are provided together with additional radios for your staff, if required, to liaise direct with the pilot. Satellite telephone communication is also available for ‘blackspot’ locations.
5) CALL OUT
To activate our system, a telephone call to our office is required from an authorised member of your staff, or if out of hours, our duty officer may be contacted on our 24 hour emergency service line. If you are not a regular client we would usually require an order confirmation to be faxed through and signed to accept liability for payment. At this stage too, detailed information is required on the location of the fire.
If you are unfortunate enough to suffer a fire we realise how important it is to you to extinguish it as quickly as possible and to this end we will endeavour to get to your fire as soon as possible, eg. at daybreak, if your call is during the night.
Head Office >> General Enquiries >> (01457) 820152
Head Office >> Pleasure Flights >> (01457) 877833
EMERGENCY CONTACTS
Priority/Immediate Response >> Office Hours >> (01457) 874774
Duty Officer (land line) >> Out of Hours >> (01457) 874774
Duty Officer (mobile) >> Out of Hours >> (07887) 947945
Duty Pilot (mobile) >> Out of Hours >> (07966) 406173
6) PREPARATION BY PHL
The location of the fire is plotted on an O.S.
map in our office, (we have a full library of
maps for the whole country), and from this
a suitable water pick-up point is selected.
This site is chosen for the size of the
reservoir / lake, a good access road for our
ground support vehicle, a flat area for the
helicopter to land for refuelling with no
overhead wires / telephone cables etc. The
ground crew then set out for the pick-up
point, with a police escort if necessary.
7) PREPARATION BY YOURSELF
A member of your staff is sent to the pick-up point to unlock any access gates and if necessary meet our ground crew to advise of any priority areas. Our ground crew brief any persons working near or around the helicopter on the code of safety to be observed. We do have our own document entitled ‘Helicopter Safety for Aerial Fire Fighting Operations’. We are happy to organise Training Days or Evening Sessions for personnel.
It is essential that when the helicopter is on the ground with rotors running that no member of your staff approaches the helicopter without first being given the OK (thumbs up) by the pilot or having been authorised by our ground crew.
8) ARRIVAL OF UNIT
The helicopter will rendezvous with the ground crew at the pick-up point, usually with the fire fighting bucket underslung. Any priority messages can be passed to the pilot by radio. Usually at this stage a senior officer in the Fire Service / gamekeeper would embark the helicopter for a reconnaissance flight over the fire, to assess the situation, followed by transfer of personnel and equipment to the area, if required. Aerial application of water would then begin.
9) TACKLING THE FIRE
The helicopter, having picked up water, moves to the fire and tracking along the advancing front of the fire, sprays the area with water. This
takes out the immediate heat of the fire. A beater on the ground is well placed here to beat out any small fires left once the helicopter has drenched the area with water. This process is repeated until the fire is extinguished.
10) ANCILLARY EQUIPMENT
We have available the ‘Pennine Pump’ (UK Patent Application No 0319369.5). This is a self-contained unit which features a 220 litre water tank, powered by a petrol engine, together with hoses / lance, equipped with fire beaters. It also has a compartment for other equipment such as breathing apparatus, first aid kit and refreshments etc.
The unit is suitable for airlifting, together with personnel, to the source of the fire for an immediate attack, or for using the lance application on deep seated fires, to inject water directly into the peat. The pump is designed to be refilled by the client or the Fire Service, with the assistance of our ground crew and then flown to whichever location is required.
In addition to the Kestrel Bucket described earlier in this document we also operate a 455 litre Bambi Bucket for filling portable reservoirs located out on the fire site. We also offer a large portable dam, for filling by the Fire Service, to facilitate an on-site water source to work with our buckets, together with a vast array of certified lifting equipment – nets, bags, slings etc to fly out pumps etc.
11) CHARGES
The hourly rate for the helicopter is £950.00 inclusive of fuel. The daily rate / part of, for the Kestrel Bucket is £450.00. The Bambi Bucket is FOC. The daily rate / part of, for the ground support fuel unit with crew and ancillary lifting equipment is £450.00. The daily rate / part of, rate for the ‘Pennine Pump’ is £400.00 per unit. All prices quoted are plus VAT.
For Business and Pleasure….We can help….
01457 877833
