HCB-AngusiBedford fire appliance for Coventry
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• Rescuing the occupants of cars involved in a bad accident is a more frequent necessity than rescue operations in burning buildings, according to the City of Coventry Fire Brigade, and the availability of air-operated cutting tools and so on is regarded as essential equipment on a fire appliance.
A recently acquired HCB-Angus appliance based on a Bedford K series chassis is the seventh Brigade vehicle to be fitted with a compressor and poweroperated tools designed for car rescue work. It has a number of maintenance advantages over earlier appliances designed to reduce down time in the event of a breakdown. These include ready accessibility to the clutch, which enables it to be replaced without removal of the Rolls-Royce B61 168 bhp petrol engine. Good acceleration is the top requirement of a fire appliance; on a run in the Coventry area with two CM men aboard, the good torque characteristics of the Rolls-Royce engine enabled the appliance to accelerate from 0 mph to 40 mph in 20sec. Torque is relayed through a Turner five-speed gearbox with synchromesh on all the gears.
The appliance is equipped with a Broome and Wade W /R 100 rotary vane compressor having a capacity of 100 cu ft /min at 100 psi. The power tools include a panel cutter, a reciprocating hacksaw and a grinding (cutting) disc. In a demonstration arranged for CM, the roof of a "crashed" Hillman Minx was cut away in a few minutes.
For coping with fires on motorways, medium expansion foam is normally employed because it provides for the minimum use of water in effective fire control, the capacity of the water tank of the HCB-Angus appliance being 300gal. The pumping unit is a rear mounted Coventry-Climax Mk12 type that has a capacity of 1000 gal /min at 100 psi.
Of practical importance operationally, the crew cab is designed with the convenience of the firemen in mind when they are changing into special clothing on the way to a rescue job at high speed.