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The fourth fire station at New Delhi Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport has been commissioned to handle emergency situations at airside or terminals as part of the Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) facilities.
The fire fighting force has also risen by 33 to 189 members who were inducted after their training in Malaysia, Delhi and Hyderabad
ARFF plays extremely important role by helping in preventing fires and be prepared for those fire incidents that can’t be prevented inside the terminal, in hangars, and on the airfield. ARFF’s operational objective is to achieve a response time of two minutes and not exceed three minutes at any point for each operational runway with intent to increase the survival chances of the passengers and aircraft crew.
IGI airport now has ten, state-of-the-art Panther 6×6 Aircraft Crash Fire Tenders (ACFT) manufactured by Rosenbauer International AG of Austria.
Featuring an ultra powerful 705hp engine, the Rosenbauer Pathers can quickly access any part of the airfield while responding to emergencies. Delhi is notorious for it’s winter fogs and the Panthers feature the ‘Low Visibility Enhanced Vision’ system, guided by a Forward Looking Infra-red (FLIR) camera mounted on the cabin roof which provides vision even in smoky, foggy, or dark environments up to a distance of 450 meters.
Built using advanced composite materials, the vehicle has a water capacity of 12,500 litres along with 1,500 litres of fire retardant foam and 500kg of Dry chemicals to fight fire, with a remote controlled roof mounted nozzle which can discharge 6,000 litres per minute i.e. empty the complete tank in just over two minutes.
Pictures courtesy and copyright Delhi International Airport Limited.
