Since the advent of fire trucks at the beginning of the last century, after continuous development and improvement, they have quickly become the main force of fire protection work, and have completely changed the face of human beings fighting against fire.
There were horse-drawn fire trucks 500 years ago
In 1666, a fire broke out in London, England. The fire burned for 4 days and destroyed 1,300 houses including the famous St. Paul’s Church. People began to pay attention to the city’s fire protection work. Soon, the British invented the world’s first hand-operated water pump fire truck, and used a hose to put out the fire.
In the industrial revolution, steam pumps are used for fire protection
During the British Industrial Revolution, Watt improved the steam engine. Soon, steam engines were also used in firefighting. The steam engine-powered fire engine appeared in London in 1829. This kind of car is still towed by horses. At the rear is a coal-fueled fire-fighting machine powered by a 10-horsepower twin-cylinder steam engine with a soft hose. water pump.
In 1835, New York established the world’s first professional fire brigade, which was later named “Fire Police” and incorporated into the sequence of city police. The first steam-powered fire truck in the United States was built in 1841 by the Englishman Pol R. Hogu, who lived in New York. It can spray water onto the roof of New York City Hall. By the end of the 19th century, steam engine fire engines had become popular in the West.
The earliest fire engines were not as good as horse-drawn carriages
In the early 20th century, with the advent of modern automobiles, fire engines soon adopted internal combustion engines as traction power, but still used steam-powered water pumps as fire water pumps.
At a model exhibition in Versailles, France, in 1898, the Gambier company in Lille, France, exhibited the world’s first fire-fighting car, albeit primitive and imperfect.
In 1901, the fire truck produced by the Royal Caledi Company in Liverpool, England, was adopted by the Liverpool City Fire Brigade. In August of the same year, the fire truck was sent out for the first time on a mission.
In 1930, people called fire trucks “candle trucks”. At that time, the “fire candle car” did not have a water tank, only a few water pipes of different heights and a ladder. Interestingly, the firefighters at that time were all standing on the car in a row holding the handrail.
By the 1920s, fire trucks that ran entirely on internal combustion engines began to appear. At this time, the structure of fire trucks was simple, and most of them were refitted on the existing truck chassis. The water pump and additional water tank were installed on the truck. The outside of the vehicle was hung with fire ladders, fire axes, explosion-proof lights, and fire hoses.
After more than 100 years of development, today’s fire trucks have become a “big family” including a variety of categories and an astounding level of technology.
The water tank fire truck is still the most frequently used fire fighting vehicle for the fire brigade. In addition to being equipped with fire pumps and equipment, the car is also equipped with large-capacity water storage tanks, water guns, water cannons, etc., which can transport water and firefighters to the fire site to independently put out the fire. Suitable for fighting general fires.
The use of chemical fire extinguishing agents to extinguish special fires instead of water is a revolution in fire extinguishing methods for thousands of years. In 1915, the National Foam Company of the United States invented the world’s first double-powder foam fire extinguishing powder made of aluminum sulfate and sodium bicarbonate. Soon, this new fire extinguishing material was also used in fire trucks.
It can quickly spray a large amount of high-expansion air foam 400-1000 times of foam to isolate the surface of the burning object from the air, especially suitable for fighting oil fires such as oil and its products.
It can put out flammable and flammable liquids, flammable gas fires, live equipment fires, and fires of general substances. For large-scale chemical pipeline fires, the fire fighting effect is particularly significant, and it is a standing fire truck for petrochemical enterprises.
With the improvement of the level of modern buildings, there are more and more high-rise buildings and higher and higher, and the fire truck has also changed, and the ladder fire truck has appeared. The multi-level ladder on the ladder fire truck can directly send the firefighters to the fire site on the high-rise building for timely disaster relief, and can rescue the distressed people trapped in the fire scene in time, which greatly improves the ability of fire fighting and disaster relief.
Today, fire trucks have become more and more specialized. For example, carbon dioxide fire trucks are mainly used to fight fires such as valuable equipment, precision instruments, important cultural relics and books and archives; airport rescue fire trucks are dedicated to the rescue and rescue of aircraft crash fires. Onboard personnel; lighting fire trucks provide lighting for night fire fighting and rescue work; smoke exhaust fire trucks are especially suitable for use in fighting fires in underground buildings and warehouses, etc.
Fire trucks are the main force in firefighting technical equipment, and its development and technological progress are closely related to the development of national economic construction.
Post time: Nov-24-2022