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Preparing Itself For The Worst

by Charles S. Dunbar m.Inst.T.

HAVING been brought up on the maxim "Keep the wheels turning," I found myself on strange territory recently when talking to men whose great hope is that the wheels of their vehicles will not turn at all, except during practice—men, moreover, who run an efficient undertaking, although the principles behind " The Commercial Motor" Tables of Operating, Costs are completely irrelevant and the ordinary jargon of " depreciation:— " m.p.g." and so on is never heard.

The occasion was a visit to the headquarters of the Hampshire County Fire Service at Winchester, where, by courtesy of Mr. E. R. Ashill, the chief fire officer, I spent some time with Mr. W. Palmer, the transport and supplies officer and Mr. R. I. R. Clarke, the workshop officer.

A fire appliance usually covers 1,000-2,000 miles a year, so that depreciation in the ordinary way through use does not occur. If and when a vehicle is scrapped. it is because of obsolescence, unless, of course, a serious accident has

made repair work not worth while. Unless some technical improvement is introduced enabling a more effective weapon for fire fighting to be employed, there is no reason why a brigade's vehicles should not last indefinitely. In these conditions, petrol engines are preferred, as weight saving is of importance where so much equipment has to be carried.

Curiously enough, almost complete idleness has its problems. Corrosion of cylinder walls and dilution of sump oil occurs through infrequent use. When a vehicle is required, it is usually driven out at high speed before getting a chance to warm up so that excessive wear of cylinder bores is a risk.

It was astonishing to learn that engines which one would expect to run 100,000 miles without trouble, need a rebore at 10-15,000 miles in the fire service. Another fault is the shaking loose of the damper fitted at the front of the crankshaft in some engines, which in turn damages the keyway in the crankshaft.

Pumping when at a fire is another source of strain on engines owing to the lack of air movement for cooling. Although heat exchangers are fitted, engines still become very hot and bearings suffer accordingly. Great attention has therefore to be paid to lubrication. Hampshire uses a 20W/30 multigrade oil with special additives.

Brakes and tyres are subject to severe strains and normal tyres will seldom last more than 10,000 miles, or may wear out after half that mileage. Michelin " X" tyres have been found the most satisfactory and it is hoped that they will outlast the life of the appliances, unless deterioration occurs through old age. Tyres are taken off and thoroughly examined every five years. Each of the four divisional headquarters in the county has a spare set for emergency use.

The radio and searchlights make greater demands on the batteries than the dynamos can meet, so that all stations have to be equipped with chargers. At stations where there is no permanent staff, fully automatic plant has been installed; this incorporates a magnetic switch, which cuts out when the cells are fully charged. The average battery has a life of seven or eight years.

Two Basic Types

Two basic types of vehicle are operated—pump escapes and pump-water-tenders. Both types, as the name implies. are fitted with pumps, but the tenders do not carry the wheeled ladders, which are a well-known feature of the escapes; instead they have a capacity of some 400-gal. of water.

Standard vehicles have emerged as the result of trial and error since the start of the county service in its present form in 1948. A very mixed bag was taken over from the National Fire Service, many of the vehicles being merely war-time adaptations of ordinary commercial vehicles, some of them second-hand to begin with. The type most needed for a county brigade was the pump-water-tender E22

a nd a prototype was designed and fitted to a chassis acquired from the N.F.S.

This early model had a portable pump mounted at the rear, which in practice was found to have some drawbacks. Later the brigade was able to design a built-in pump mounted at the front of the vehicle and primed by an electrically driven air pump. This type is still in use. although the chassis are 20 years old.

From 1951, it was again possible to buy complete appliances from the manufacturers and several new units were put into service. However, in 1954, there was a change of policy. After some years of working under difficult conditions, the Hampshire Brigade was able in that year to move into premises built to its own requirements on the Winnall Trading Estate, which lies on the east side of Winchester City centre. A start was then made wit!:, building bodies to the Fire Authority's own designs and that is the practice now adopted for any fleet additions.

Chassis are bought by tender; recent additions have been Bedfords, but Commers and Dodges were bought in the 1951-54 period. Building its own bodies is not only good policy operationally for the brigade, but financially, too. About 1,800 man-hours per appliance are required. These are calculated at 10s. an hour, which figure includes an allowance for all overheads. Materials cost about £700. If these items be added to the chassis price, the total is several hundreds of pounds less than the cost of an appliance bought complete from the manufacturers. The approach at Winnall is essentially pragmatical or, as Mr. Palmer put it to me: "We build a body and make the drawing afterwards." This theoretically topsy-turvy method has produced some very practical results.

Jigs and patterns are now available and a steady programme of new body-building can be pursued. Four new appliances a year are being turned out so that the complete fleet can be changed over in 20 years. The staff available can also cope with an emergency such as the replacement of any vehicle completely written off as the result of an accident.

Timber framework is used because it is more robust than light-alloy and localized damage is more easily dealt with. Belgian white ash is used for the uprights and African hardwoods for other parts. After lying in the drying shed, all timber is treated with Mystox anti-rot compound before assembly. Embossed aluminium, unpainted, is now used for the external surfaces and shows a marked economy over painted metal.

The existence of the pump has, of course, a dominating effect on the problem of body design and fitment. The power take-off is either via a sandwich-box in the transmission (the position now favoured) or between the flywheel and gearbox.

The bodies of the pump-watertenders now being constructed are carried on dropped outriggers from the chassis frame and the three-point mountings are on I-in, rubber blocks. Glass-fibre is being tried for the wings.

A point showing the attention paid to detail is that all ledges, such as the tops of lockers, are made to slope slightly to the rear so that water runs off. Large doors are an important feature of the cabs.

One of the difficulties of fire-fighting in Hampshire is the great acreage of heath and woodland, much of which ordinary fire-fighting vehicles cannot easily penetrate. The Hampshire Brigade have, therefore, converted several Land-Rovers, which can go almost anywhere. They carry 80 gal. of water, a reel of hose and a small pump.

Later models have been fitted with a 500-g.p.m. pump, mounted at the front, so leaving room in the body for a ladder and more hose. Two Land-Rovers have been made into lighting units and one of these carries a compressor for recharging breathing apparatus cylinders. The brigade has also designed a very handy portable pump, which can be carried by two men. Powered by a_, J.A.P. 600 c.c. engine, it can eject 70 g.p.m. at 100-lb. pressure. Another ingenious device is a visual suctiontesting apparatus.

Hoses have also to be tested for pumping and this is done with the aid of a deep well and a water circulating system equipped with indicator dials. Pumps, hose reels, bells, searchlights and various auxiliary equipment are reconditioned and used again whenever possible. Ladders are remade when necessary.

Varied Rolling Stock

The new Authority started work in 1948 with a heterogeneous collection of rolling stock and it was a problem how to keep it in running order. At first, travelling mechanics were sent round, but this was unsatisfactory and when the new premises at Winnall were ready, a system of preventive maintenance was introduced.

Cars and light vehicles are now taken into the central workshop at three-monthly intervals for inspection and servicing and all other vehicles and appliances go in every six months. The workshop officer, or his assistant, personally tests each vehicle before and after the mechanics have done their work. He also checks the steering and tyres and examines the paint and bodywork.

The road test covers 14 miles, including a steep hill. Tapley meters are used to check • the brakes on the " after " test. '

The fitters work through an instruction sheet, which details the tasks to be done under 25 headings, so that every portion of the chassis and engine is examined. The electrician has five tasks and so have the joiners and painters working together. Specialists deal with the fixed or trailer pumps and hoses. Some additional tasks are included at annual inspections. The six-monthly check takes three days, the annual one a little longer. Four to six vehicles a week are dealt with.

Two pits and a 7-ton lift are used for under-chassis work. The pits are fitted with upward-shining lights and are deeper than usual so that a man of average height has no need to crouch when working. Any running repairs which are too trivial to justify taking a vehicle to Winchester are dealt with by local garages. Body-building and general maintenance take place at opposite ends of one long room, which has excellent natural lighting. A safety device is the use of inspection lamps, the leads of which can be clamped to rods hanging from the ceiling and carrying a 24v. current

In the machine shop, situated in a bay off the main shop, are a Kerry lathe, a 60-ton press, a large electric drill, two reboring machines, a Lucas lamp testing plant and a wheelalignment tester. In the metal shop are a power hacksaw, electric spot-welding apparatus and a blacksmith's forge. The woodworking shop, which has a highly effective dust extractor, is equipped with a large woodworking bandsaw, two smaller bandsaws (one for metal and one for wood), a thicknessing and a universal woodworking machine.

The pump-testing well is in a separate building, where there is also a completely shut-off shop for spray-painting and a store for helmets and other clothing.

Fleet Make-up

The fleet now consists of one turntable ladder (stationed in Winchester), 15 pump-escapes, 52 modern pump-watertenders, 11 old self-propelled pumps and towing tenders, 14 Land-Rovers, eight lorries, two personnel carriers and 22 staff cars. In addition to its own fleet, the Hampshire Brigade maintains on behalf of the Home Office 13 selfpropelled pumps, nine other four-wheeled vehicles, 22 portable pumps and six motorcycles. These are used for training personnel of the Auxiliary Fire Service.

The engineering staff at Winnall consists of the workshop officer, one chargehand, four mechanics, one electrician, three metal workers, four joiners and body-builders, one unskilled band and two apprentices. For fire purposes, the administrative county of Hampshire, that is the old shire minus the county boroughs of Portsmouth, Southampton and Bournemouth (which have their own brigades), is divided into four-divisions with 12-14 stations in each. Whole-time staff man the stations at Aldershot and Basingstoke (in the northern division), Winchester and Eastleigh (central), Fareham and Gosport (south-eastern) and Lyndhurst (south-western).

There are 150 whole-time uniformed firemen and one firewoman, plus 600 part-time uniformed men. The headquarters staff numbers 18. Included in the figures for uniformed staff are 12 men who man the central control room at Winchester in shifts.

A new control room will be in use shortly, equipped with panels, which will enable the availability of all equipment and officers to be seen at a glance and with teleprinter and telephone connections to all stations; the control room will also be in two-way radio communication with all the suitably fitted vehicles.

One of the Authority's greatest difficulties is the training of the many part-time drivers, particularly in high-sined driving. A similar difficulty occurs with the testing of vehicles. The law is vague, but the opinion of the Hampshire Constabulary seems to be that a fire appliance may be driven in excess of the speed limit only when it is actually going to a fire. This makes a really thorough testing of a vehicle impossible and in the case of the men it has to be left to chance whether they will be able to cope with an emergency. It would help fire officers if their appliances were granted a higher limit at all times outside built-up areas—or no limit at all.