Fire Engines Photos

Paul, over this side of the pond we'd probably say 'bit of a mongrel-looking truck, ' anyhow, what's the 'thing' below the centre window (air intake?) and have I spied an FB5X in the front upper locker area? And, if so are they still in use today? And, why 4x4, is there a lot of soft ground around that area? And, lastly, what sort of top speed could you get out of one of these on the open road? , , , , thanks

Added by Pavel - Western Australia on 04 January 2008.

Pavel. Thanks for the comments, North Yorkshire Fire Brigade purchased 4 of these pumps and put them in various locations around the county. North Yorkshire has vast amounts of moors and forest's with soft land.Also hilly remote areas, so they were placed to cover these area's.The 'thing' below the windows is a grill and small access point to the engine area the round hole is for topping up water levels.Yes it is a FB5X and we still use them today.Top speed would have been about 60 to 65 mph. Hope this helps. Paul

Added by Paul Warnock on 05 January 2008.

There is also a stem ligh at the roof of this WRL. Do you know who manufactured the stem light and how does it works? Does it works like a spotlight/floodlight?

Added by Bomba Boy on 30 June 2008.

Is the FB5X a Hose Nozzle ?

Regards, from Canada,

Added by Pat Rivers-Bowerman on 15 November 2008.

The FB5X is a foam branch.From the pump, a hose-line is connected to the foam
branch then via a connecting tube attached to the branch(ready connected), the foam compound is drawn into the hose line and hopefully, out comes the foam at
the nozzle of the FB5X foam making branch.

Added by Pete Matten on 15 November 2008.

Fb5x is foam making branch size 5x....connected to a main water hose and has a small rubber tube leading off....this in turn connects to a dip tube which is inserted into a drum of foam liquid (or compound ...depending on how old you are!) the passage of the water creates a vacuum in the tube inducting the foam liquid into the branch...it mixes with the water and is aeriated and finished foam is expelled from the end of the branch onto the fire.
10x or 20x are larger versions usualy found on airport crash tenders and sometimes used as monitors. hope this helps.

Added by Barrie Green on 15 November 2008.

Pat, the FB5X is a foam making branch (pipe), has been around since Moses played fullback for the Israelites, , , , Well, they were all the rage in the 60's being carried on nearly every British Commonwealth fire appliance that had a pumping function. The beauty of this piece of equipment, was the simplicity of operation and was generally used as a first attack weapon in an oil fire or simular.
It was only a matter of carrying a couple of drums of foam concentrate to the end of the delivery (hose), connect the FB5X to the end of the hose, call for 'water on' directing the stream away from the oil fire until established, (cooling surrounds, etc) plunge the pick-up tube which had a piercer end, into the top of the concentrate container, (venturi principal picked up the concentrate), and the second foam established, direct on the seat of fire, etc.
They have a small selector handle for water/foam, etc.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I believe they were used extensively in the Royal Navy, and were so good and simple, became standard equipment across Britian and her colonies. I know they are still in use today.

They weren't bad at chucking out a good old jet of foam to something like 50 feet or more. You just had to make sure you had sufficient supply of compound on hand, each appliance carried two drums, so you'd pool your supply and get to work with one branch. Excellent stuff around MVA's where you had people trapped and high risk of fire, of small aircraft mishaps, , , ,

What did you have in Canada?

Added by Pav on 15 November 2008.

Thanks, Gents, for the FB5X info.

Yes, yes - we have one on our rural pumper - I think it is called "Foam Eductor". And, they have been around for ages, in Canada, too.

Carried on our Coast Guard ships, too. Usually magnificent brass construction, and the ship's crew had somewhat rude name for them. Fortunately, seldom if had to be used in anger - fire at sea is simply not fun - just on the training ground.

Regards, Pat_R-B

Added by Pat Rivers-Bowerman on 17 November 2008.

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