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It has been 20 years since Newcastle Airport took delivery of the first Panther fire appliance from Rosenbauer. With the 100th Panther to be delivered in the UK and Republic of Ireland now pride of place at Cornwall Airport Newquay, we found out more about this incredible journey that includes rockets and Air Force One.
Ian Robertshaw, Managing Director of Rosenbauer UK, joined Charles Dixon, Senior Airport Fire Officer, at the unveiling of the new fleet of three Panthers and reflected on the changes over the past 20 years. One such change is the engine, which previously came from Caterpillar. The Panther now uses a Volvo Euro 6 engine which Ian says is quieter and more efficient.
“The firefighting pump is new and has been redeveloped. The old ones are still great, but the newer ones are more efficient, providing better output and better power.” The addition of rear wheel steering has vastly improved the turning circle of the appliances as well as improved overall performance, adds Charles.
They both make the point that there are standards for an airport fire appliance. “From my point of view,” says Charles, “regulation determines the platform that you start from, how much water, how much foam, dry powder, performance of the vehicle, how quickly you need to respond etc. After that, there are modifications, such as the addition of an HRET (High Reaching Extendable Turret), that reflects the more specific risk that you might have at individual airports.”
Cornwall Airport Newquay not only services commercial planes but is also currently Europe’s only horizontal Spaceport. This clearly escalates the risk that the firefighters face.
“We had a space launch a few years ago. Normally when you’re looking at the task and resource analysis for a commercial aircraft, the risks that you would assess are fairly standard. But, when you’re looking at a jumbo jet with a rocket strapped to the wing, our normal process goes out the window, and you really have to start re-evaluating what the risks are.”
Charles says that along with rockets, the airport could soon see further aviation development including UAVs – unmanned aerial vehicles. The fourth-generation Panthers now at Newquay are well placed to provide the resilience and response needed by such diverse air risks that have in the past involved the arrival of Air Force One when Cornwall hosted a meeting of the G7.
While response may be the first thing to come to mind when thinking about airport emergencies, Charles says that the addition of a winch on the front of one of the Panthers means they are more self-sufficient when it comes to aircraft recovery. He explains: “We’re not going to recover a large commercial airliner that’s buried in the grass, but we can recover a light aircraft that could potentially close the runway for a few hours and cause considerable disruption to the airport.”
Responding to the changing needs of airport fire services drives Ian and the team at Rosenbauer to innovate and improve the Panthers. He explains that the innovation can come from something very small or more substantial.
“Like a hygiene board, for example. We never saw them on Panthers before, they tended to be on domestic fire appliances. Now, for the next five vehicles that are coming through, we’re going to have a pull-out hygiene board with soap, hot water and air lines for cleaning yourself off. I can see that this is going to become standard for us. It is all these little things where we adapt, we make something new, and then it becomes what everyone wants.”
Taking a green approach to innovation
Like all transport sectors, decarbonisation is a big conversation. How to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and transition to cleaner, greener fuel is a topic that Ian and Charles spend a lot of time thinking about. One fuel is HVO – a form of vegetable oil – and that’s starting to appear in both airport and local authority fire and rescue services. Cambridgeshire is one example, with their fleet almost all transitioning from diesel to HVO. Other airports, including Heathrow, are doing the same but HVO is new to Newquay.
“We’re really pleased to be able to roll out HVO across all our rescue and firefighting fleet, which includes all support vehicles as well as our fire appliances. We had concerns initially about cost and transition, but it is the right thing to do as far as the environment is concerned.
“The Panthers are able to use this alternative fuel without any issues thanks to Rosenbauer’s work with Volvo. We can also source the HVO locally which made a big difference to our decision to adopt this as an alternative green fuel source.”
The Panthers are at the start of a 12-month trial at Newquay where Charles says that they anticipate saving 22 tonnes of carbon from the switch over. This fits nicely with Rosenbauer’s drive for sustainability which Ian says he could talk about for hours. He adds that the company’s annual sustainability report is a key component of its tendering documentation when the company bids for contracts.
From changing the way Rosenbauer reuses water for testing its vehicles’ capabilities at the factory in Austria, to the development of an electric fire engine, the green thread runs strongly through the company’s ethos, so delivering the 100th Panther in the UK and Republic of Ireland running on HVO seems entirely apposite.
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