Propel Technology: Allison Transmission-Equipped Water Tankers Enable Rapid, Safe Response to Rural Fires in Ireland

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Allison Transmission is relied upon by fire and rescue services around the world for its fully automatic transmissions, which provide a host of benefits to this most critical application. Easy to operate in an emergency, they ensure reliability and maximum vehicle performance over any terrain. Low, and therefore less costly, transmission maintenance requirements, enable vehicles to be kept on the road and ready for action. Besides regular fire-fighting trucks, Allison supplies transmissions to water tankers, which play a significant role in rural area fire-fighting, as experienced by Clare County Fire & Rescue Service, in Ireland.

This fleet has five Allison-equipped water tankers – four Hino 500 Series trucks acquired in 2009 and 2010 and a Hino FS 6x4 purchased in 1992 – out of a total fleet of 24 vehicles of which 14 have Allison transmissions. This high proportion of water tankers among the fleet reflects the remote locations served by the brigade.

 In the countryside, there are very few water hydrants compared to cities and urban areas, so the fire service must bring its own water supply. Clare County Fire & Rescue Service attends approximately 1,200 callouts per year, which include structural fires, and a high occurrence of forest fires, especially near areas of peat and bog land. The tankers, which carry 2,000 gallons (7,600 litres) of water each, will escort two of the regular fire tenders to the incident. Al Meaney, Clare County's maintenance supervisor explains: ''The transmission is crucial in ensuring the 18 tonne (gross vehicle weight) tanker arrives to the incident immediately behind its 11 tonne fire-fighting counterpart. An important feature of the Allison transmission is the integrated retarder which makes braking under so much weight much easier."

It is not only the lack of guaranteed water sources at the emergency scene that presents a challenge for the rural fire service. Serving remote areas via seven stations around the county, Clare County Fire & Rescue Service encounters small, narrow and hilly country roads which are made much easier to negotiate with a full power-shifting automatic transmission. Thanks to the advanced technology torque converter and constant mesh planetary gearing there are no distracting gear changes.

The retained fire-fighting force – locals with regular day jobs who receive in-depth training – can take full advantage of a smoother ride and easier to drive truck as they protect their communities.

Allison transmissions have been specified on Clare County Fire & Rescue Service's vehicles since the early 1990s. Now most new vehicles, ordered through bodybuilders, come with an Allison, and they have been praised for their reliability and durability.

The Hino 500 Series water tankers are equipped with a number of features to help support the specific demands on the Clare County fire brigade. The tanker carries a dam (an inflatable water pool), which it fills from the tank at the scene of the incident while tending to the fire. This allows fire fighters to continue extinguishing the fire while the tanker leaves to extract water from the nearest source such as a river or lake. A water monitor on the roof can be directed remotely from inside the truck's cab to spray forest fires as the truck drives along the adjacent road. A further pump located under the front bumper is configured to spray a mix of water and foam additive to break up oil spills at road traffic accidents.



Author:Propel Techonology Press Release