Firechase - Fire & Rescue Vehicle

Once Richard Noble decided that he was going to build the worlds first car to go supersonic it was inevitable that he was going to need a lot of quite new high performance support vehicles with very compact technology. Everything must fit in to the Antonov that will transport the team and the attempt will take place in a remote desert without the luxury of the usual range of sophisticated support vehicles. The whole team must be entirely independent and able to function quickly and effectively. Dealing with potential fires posed a particular problem. The problems were 1 .To find a suitable vehicle and 2. To find it and fit it out with "state of the art" equipment.

Much of the SSC project is funded by sponsors supporting the project with materials, equipment and manufacturing components. KIDDE-GRAVINER, the well known fire equipment specialist, came forward with a generous offer to provide funding for the specialised equipment and to provide their own equipment as well. Jaguar Cars Ltd. also generously offered an XJR saloon car as the base vehicle.

Jaguar have made special high speed fire engines in the past for racing tracks such as Silverstone. Here the specification was more difficult. The team wanted a much higher load to be carried - some 350 kg, they wanted air conditioning for the carbon-fibre clad firemen, and they wanted high speed.

Jaguars Special Vehicle Operations department (SVO) set to work on an XJR Supercharged 6 cylinder saloon car and turned it in to what is probably the fastest fire engine of this size in the world. Certainly the Jaguar, call sign Firechase, is a very well equipped fire engine. The load fitted on the Jaguar is higher than any normal saloon and SVO had to make many modifications to the firechase to suit it to this demanding role. The rear seats were removed and the huge 200 litre water/foam tank and its associated controls and compressed air bottles were installed. The weight of the water/foam tank and the other equipment is so great that rear springs had to be changed to armoured car type heavy duty springs and the steering rack was modified to cater for the different loads on the steering. SVO also specially fitted the boot (trunk for our American readers!) to take the specialised fire and rescue equipment. The photo shot does not show the fact that a lid is placed over the equipment in the bottom of the boot and on the lid is stored a breathing apparatus for fire fighting in smoke or poisonous fumes, a compressed air inflated air bag for jacking the SSC and the hand tools. There is also a first aid kit.

In addition to all of this SVO fitted the range of audio visual equipment needed. This is contained in the "light bar" fitted on the roof It permits a range of emergency vehicle warning wails and has a public address fitted at well. There are the usual blue gas discharge lights and working spotlights as well. For communications there is a two-way radio permitting the Jaguar Firechase to join the team radio net.

None of the luxury has been lost from the Jaguar Firechase I'm pleased to say!. There is still the beautiful wood veneered facia, the leather upholstery, the CD player and stereo radio and - the essential air conditioning. The fully-clad crew have to be kept cool because perspiration is impossible in the fire suits and they will spend a lot of time in the Jaguar Firechase standing by at re-fuelling and when the car is running.

The normal Jaguar sports a six cylinder 4 litre supercharged engine which whisks the car up to 155mph (250km/h). The acceleration is 0-60 (10km/h) in 6.6 seconds giving a massive 378 foot pound of torque at 3050 rev. A little of this is lost because of the weight that the Jaguar Firechase carries but at testing Jaguar carried out at the Motor Industry Research Association the speed remained impressive. The Firechase team have reached an indicated speed of 133mph.

The Jaguar Firechase was recently demonstrated at the Farnborough International Air show. Howard Davies, the man in charge of promotion of the new Jaguar XJ220, is the man who organised the generous Jaguar support. Howard ran the Firechase and a new XJ220 on the main runway at Farnborough as an airfield inspection and Jaguar demonstration before the start of the days flying, afterward the Firechase was seen on the Jaguar stand at the air show.

The Firechase Jaguar is fitted with an impressive range of equipment including:-

• A 200 litre water and foam tank with internal baffles to prevent surge when moving. The water tank is pressurised by air supplied from a large capacity air cylinder operating through a pressure gauge and regulator to bring it down to the operating pressure of 10bar through a system control panel which shows the pressure available and from which the system can be pressurised ready for action when the car is running. The water/foam tank is fitted inside the back seat area of the Firechase Jaguar and the foam - Petroseal (a Film-Forming FlouroProtein or FFFP), is delivered via two fold flat 20 metre hoses on reels mounted in the rear foot well. These can be instantly deployed and charged as soon as the car stops. They will deliver 200 litres in 55 seconds at full pressure. Twice the time if only one hose is operating. In fire terms this is a very high delivery rate for a small vehicle! This was made by PSP Safety Products Ltd. of Droitwich, Worcs., a sub-contractor of Kidde-Graviner. Kidde also supplied the dry powder and foam hand held fire extinguishers stored in the rear of the Jaguar Firechase.
  
• The cab structure on the SSC is made of carbon fibre laminate. Mike Home, the team member who designed it assured us that we won't be able to break in if it ever became necessary. Just to be sure we can do the job of rescuing the driver Andy Green we have an air driven hand held cutter with a diamond cutting disc permanently fitted to a 30 metre air line and ready to be picked up and go in to operation. This is plumbed in the two 200 bar air cylinders fitted in the Jaguar Firechase boot. All we have to do is turn on the pressure valve and go to work.
  
• We are not expecting to be very highly employed in rescuing anybody when the SSC runs, the designers have considered every risk and built in sensors and measurements that function with manual and automatic fail safe mechanisms. On top of this the Pit Station team are watching all of the information provided by telemetry from the on board sensors and instruments. However there is always the unexpected and so we carry on board cutting and spreading gear to deal with the very strong frames and structures of the SSC. These are portable cutting shears that will cut with a force of 24.7251bs and hydraulic spreaders that will structural steel with a force of 53941bs. They are made by sponsors Junkers System GMBH of Germany and supplied by their UK distributors Angloco Ltd. of Batley, West Yorkshire. The Junkers tools can be carried by a single man and are powered by a 12v-17 ampere hour leak proof energy pack that is worn on a quickly fitted harness and will give 40 spreader operations and 80 cutter operations on a full charge. We have carried out tests on the SSC structures and this kit is unbeatable.
  
• If we are confronted with a situation where the SSC is upside down we will have to get the driver out quickly, although Andy Green has independent life support systems that give him air and fire protection for half and hour he will soon get bored with the novelty and want to stretch his legs! To deal with this we have an air inflatable bag jack. These are specially designed air jacks that will lift close to six tonnes. They are supplied by sponsors MFC Survival Ltd. Of Tonypandy, Wales. MFC are suppliers to the UK MOD.
  
  The air bag jacks are low pressure air lift systems specially intended for the fire and rescue services. When deflated they can be slid under one engine of the SSC (or any other parts of the car) and inflated from the high volume 200 bar compressed air cylinder fitted in to the Jaguar Firechase. This is arranged so that we can rapidly deploy the air jack without a lot of setting up. It is permanently plumbed in and needs only a final connection and the valve regulator to be opened.
  
• Last but not least are the fire suits themselves. We have opted for the Aluminised Panotex suits supplied by sponsors Universal Carbon Fibres of Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire. UCF also supply the specially made suit that Andy Green wears. The fire suits enable the firefighters to tackle any kind of blaze without suffering the effects of the heat. The suits surface will not allow fluids to adhere and so burning tuel is not a problem. The suits come supplied with gloves and a balaclava.
  

We are privileged to have such tremendous equipment, our sponsors have given us tremendous support. If you are a Mach One Club Gold Member I expect you will be able to see the Jaguar Firechase when you come to see the SSC run. I look forward to seeing you then.

Mike Hearn - Firechase
Brian Palmer - Firechase

To use Firechase effectively, the vehicle's crew must be fully trained in the use of the fire fighting and rescue equipment. For details of that training, please read Preparing For Any Eventuality.

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