Firefighting Motorbike - Neatorama

Someone in Liverpool came up with the brilliant idea of equipping motorcycles with firefighting equipment.

Liverpool is the first city in the UK to roll out two of the £30,000 bikes, which have pumps with a range of 11 metres, in a six-month pilot scheme. With 50 litres of water and chemical foam on board each specially modified BMW bike, they are capable as a pair of putting out two burning cars in two minutes.

The man in charge of the project added: "We have no intention of using them to replace fire engines. "Our two biggest work streams are automated fire alarms and anti-social small fires, which is what they will be used for."

It appears to be a very clever idea. The bikes can navigate through traffic more quickly than full-size equipment, at lower cost and using less manpower.

Link. Photo: Peter Byrne/PA Wire.

Comments (6)

Newest 5

Newest 5 Comments

Mr. Hodges, the original link at The Independent says this about the clothing:

"Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service group manager John McCormack said: "We had to make sure the protective equipment was suitable both for riding a motorbike and also fighting a fire when he gets there. He does not have time to get changed."

I would think they would be the ones to contact. I found this link for them:

http://www.merseyfire.gov.uk/aspx/pages/Default2.aspx

Good luck.

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Hello! my name is Chuck Hodges and Im with Dist#2 fire and rescue in moriarty new mexico and we are vwery interested in the fire fighting motorcycle. were looking at getting one for fire and one for emt. we need info as to where to purchase the fire fighters motorcycle suit for riders only? we cant find where to purchase them. any info would be greatly appreciated. Chuck Hodges

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"anti-social small fires" Uh... I don't really understand. Aren't all fires anti-social? Not really but yes, i.e. Towering inferno but not camp fires.

@ Vonskippy "backhanders" Uh... I don't really understand.

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@Vonskippy

I can only assume "backhander" means something different to you than to me. To me is means either a bribe or a blow using the back of the hand, effectively a reverse slap. I can't see how either of those could work in the context of this story.

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they have used these in trails in the netherlands. They use a special pulse nozle to blanket small fires, with added foam if needed. Enough to put out most car fires.

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I vaguely remember watching these Mythbuster experiments.

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Only on the internet can you read a blog article which is a reprint of a magazine article which is a summary of a television episode.

The meta, it hurts!

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Um, apologies for picking on your spelling, but I think you meant to use the word 'dexterous' (or 'dextrous'; both spellings are okay). That is, unless 'dexterious' is some terrible new hybrid word that people are using.

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I don't require television to be plausible. I require it to be fun to watch.

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Spell Check, too many errors.

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My favorite was when he magnetized a pipe by striking it against a wall. Yes, it happens. No, he did not do it correctly.

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One thing to remember about McGyver is that the producers and writers tried to make everything that was explosive or potentially dangerous -not- work if tried in reality. When McGyver would create a chemical mixture to explode out of this or that trap, at least one component would always be off so that kids couldn't blow up their bedrooms at home.

:D

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MacGyver really needed a cross-over with the A*Team.

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I think it was in the pilot episode of the A-Team, they escaped a prison with "traaaash baaaaygs" attached to chairs, inflated with frickin' hair dryers! It was an amazing bit of TV.

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My dad told me about an incident in the 1950's on an aircraft carrier where a disgruntled sailor flushed a pound of sodium metal down the toilets and blew them up, disabling them. Needless to say, the sailor was court-martialed, and my dad had a seat on the court. It seems that the key part of getting a major reaction from sodium metal and water is to constrain the reaction, much like the way that gunpowder will burn when unconstrained but explode when constrained.

The problem with Mythbusters is that they often don't think through how to really reproduce a situation and have terrible experimental procedures, such as when they used a bolt-action rifle to test the effects of blocking the barrel of a gun, rather than testing on a semi-automatic like a Colt .45 pistol (which was the original of the myth that they were trying to bust), or when they were testing whether on gets better fuel economy to driving with the windows down on a car or with the air conditioning on - they changed the conditions of the experiment halfway through on that one.

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I signed the online petition to get paramount to let Mythbusters do Macguyver myths, and i'm glad i did.

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