LAFD Foam Tender

[Guest Thrill]

what is the advantage of the LAFD Foam Tender over the other two fire engines? is it better at fightring fires? is this used for noly special circumstances? whats the deal with the foam tender, please explain - thanks

[randomperson139]

I don't think it's any different to the other 2 fire engines

[Luisinho]

Yes, it extinguishes fires much faster than the other engines.

[Guest Thrill]

Oh nice, is there any other trucks which ar ebetter for fighting fires? What about the LAX 80 or whatever it's called, is this good for normal bush type and building fires? i know its a big truck, but does it put out fires better? seems awfully powerful.

[Xplorer4x4]

Im pretty sue the LAX and Foam Tender both have a better deck gun then the rest of the engines, but generally speaking the LAX Crash Tender is so big it takes awhile to reach its destination and time is crucial so its not really suited for typical first responders case. In the wasted time things could easily get out of control.

I believe those 4 are the only trucks primarily used for fighting fire. You have things like the LES/HES qhich can transport back up to the scene and carry equipment but they wont fight the fire for you like the engines,LAX, and foam tender.

[Guest Thrill]

ok thank you very much sir.

i like foam tender for all my fire now :P

[Agentchung]

I think it's also mainly a cosmetic thing. I personally haven't noticed a difference, but I could be wrong.

Also, like mentioned above, the LAX Crash truck is mainly used for airport fires, and moves quite slowly, and sometimes have trouble navigating the streets considering it is so large.

[Guest Taylor]

Anyway we can stick a huge cannon as a gated wye? Such as a portable cannon firefighters use?

[Ami89E1234]

some mods (like Winterberg) already have a portable water cannon. while its a cool concept, you wouldnt need it to be a wye (which the functions, etc. u know what i mean) besides, i dont know whether LAFD (or any fire depts.) in the US use them. the mod is about realistic things, not unrealistic, impossible, and/or useless things (like a water tank to deliver water, or an oxygen refill truck) and things like that

[Hoppah]

About the foam tender: It's called that way because it USUALLY sprays foam to cover burning objects. Although Mikesphotos told me once it can spray water without the foam substance too. That means the foam truck in the LA mod isn't even that unrealistic.

About a portable watercannon:

It's possible, but I do not feel like to add one. The gated wye is already bugged. I don't want to spend hours on something what will probably have its flaws too.

[Guest Taylor]

Well, it doesn't have to be on the Wye.... it could just be on some other different hose setup... if anyones can make one, let me know, I'll find out if LAFD uses them

Another thing, IRL the LAFD ladder would be much more powerful than it is in the game, because right now it's simply a hose, if it were in real life, it'd be the equivalent to I think a foam tender.

[Xplorer4x4]

I think it's also mainly a cosmetic thing. I personally haven't noticed a difference, but I could be wrong.

I notice the difference. I dont use the foam tender gernally but once i was out of other trucks and sent it in for a structure fire in freeplay and it seemed to knock the fire out much faster then what your ALS or BLS Engine would.

Well, it doesn't have to be on the Wye.... it could just be on some other different hose setup...

Your missing the point..

if anyones can make one, let me know, I'll find out if LAFD uses them

I suspect mikesphotos will be along sooner or later to provide the answer.

Another thing, IRL the LAFD ladder would be much more powerful than it is in the game, because right now it's simply a hose, if it were in real life, it'd be the equivalent to I think a foam tender.

If your referring to the fact it is a ladder only and has no hose connections, well not all larders have hose connections.

[Dominic22]

I'm hoping to become a firefighter one day, still learning a lot. But as far as I know the ladders with the hose connections are called quints. Well where I live anyways.

[cletus]

we have quints towers and ladders here. all mean something differnt but involve a ladder. tower just has a bucket with water. quint is just a stright stick with water and a ladder is just a ladder with no water or pump. i speed up the speed on my foam tender to get to fires faster. you know more realistick. i also took out hazmat unit in station 2 and put the foam tender in ther. only because there are not many hazmat issues.

[Guest Taylor]

I notice the difference. I dont use the foam tender gernally but once i was out of other trucks and sent it in for a structure fire in freeplay and it seemed to knock the fire out much faster then what your ALS or BLS Engine would.

Your missing the point..

I suspect mikesphotos will be along sooner or later to provide the answer.

If your referring to the fact it is a ladder only and has no hose connections, well not all larders have hose connections.

No, I understood his point haha.......

No, not the hose connections thing, I'm saying if it's a ladder, usually they're more powerful, but that isn't a huge issue, it doesn't have to be exactly like the real thing.... I think the portable cannon would be VERY useful for forest fires though

[cletus]

yea that would be real cool

[MikesPhotos]

I suspect mikesphotos will be along sooner or later to provide the answer.

And.......Here I am!

Well, it doesn't have to be on the Wye.... it could just be on some other different hose setup... if anyones can make one, let me know, I'll find out if LAFD uses them

No, I understood his point haha.......

No, not the hose connections thing, I'm saying if it's a ladder, usually they're more powerful, but that isn't a huge issue, it doesn't have to be exactly like the real thing.... I think the portable cannon would be VERY useful for forest fires though

LAFD does indeed utilize portable monitors for incidents where a ground based heavy stream appliance is neccesary. Now, since I know many of you are budding firefighters and love the technical bits, here's a little introduction into portable monitors and their usage. On long duration fires, or incidents where heavy streams are neccesary and having a firefighter with a hose sitting there for long periods of time just isn't feasible or prudent, portable monitors can be placed for a deluge effect in defensive operations. A 4" line is connected to a gated wye which allows 2 2-1/2" lines to be connected to the monitors intake manifold. This gives you about 600gpm with a 2"tip attached to the monitor. Because of the large stream and force, they have to be stabilized and secured or they'll end up just flipping over.

As for usage on forest/wildland fires, you'd NEVER utilize one for a plethora of reasons. The least which being the fact, just like in the game, forest/brush/wildland urban interface fires are quick moving and it takes too much time to set up, direct, stabilize, aim, and shoot. Second, at 600gpm, you're going to deplete your entire tank in 2 mins. Third off the top of my head is the fact that they are meant for single point deluge defenseive operations of a static target like an oil tank or commercial building, if you aim it at a tree, its out in seconds, and you then have to recrank it, re aim it, restabilize it for that direction and hit another tree.

But the point you missed was Hoppahs excellent explanation why it will probably never see the light of day in the game. All throughout the board you already hear complaints about stability, bugs, crashes, and such. The wye in itself has flaws that cannot be overcome after many many hours of brainstorming, coding, and hard work on his part. The portable monitor would inherit those flaws since the logic behind connections, placement and use would be very similar scripting wise. Cool features are cool, but Hoppah has stressed above all else, he wants stability vs crashes.

Another thing, IRL the LAFD ladder would be much more powerful than it is in the game, because right now it's simply a hose, if it were in real life, it'd be the equivalent to I think a foam tender.

No, I understood his point haha.......

No, not the hose connections thing, I'm saying if it's a ladder, usually they're more powerful, but that isn't a huge issue, it doesn't have to be exactly like the real thing.... I think the portable cannon would be VERY useful for forest fires though

LAFD's Aerial ladders are not plumbed as many have noted and often you will just find someone up there with a standard hoseline as you can see in this pic during the Canyon Fire

When that isn't enough, a ladder pipe assembly may be mounted on the end of the ladder which is basically attached to a 4" line connected to the pumper in the Light Force.

This gives you a Master Stream of 1000gpm during ladder pipe operations. Now the Wagon Battery (deck gun to most of you) on an LAFD Engine can be equipped with various smoothbore and brush tips giving you from 250gpm to 1000gpm

How does this compare to a Foam Tender? The front monitor is a hydro-chem nozzle for mixing with CAFS, Purple K, or other dry chem or foam that is needed. The rear monitor can be equipped with a variety of nozzles including a smooth bore tip which will flow 2000gpm!

And since the ARFF rigs were mentioned, lets go to those next! LAFD Fire Station 80 at LAX Airport has 1 RIV (rapid intervention vehicle) and 3 Foam units. The RIV is a 1997 Oshkosh T-1500 with a 1500gpm pump, 700gpm roof turret, and 350gpm bumper turret much like the one pictured below from LAFD's Van Nuys Crash Rescue station.

Foam 1 is an E-One Titan with a 2500gpm pump, 1200gpm hydro chem room turret, and 500gpm bumper turret. Foam 2 and Foam 3 are almost identical to each other and are 1988/1999 E-One Titans, but are equipped with Snozzles. The Snozzle has a 375gpm penetrator and a 1000 gpm Hydrochem turret. It is also equipped with a 500gpm bumper turret.

Foam 4 is the ready reserve rig and is a 1979 Oshkosh M-15 with a 1600gpm Roof turret and a 315gpm bumper turret.

So there you have it!

Mike

[Guest Taylor]

No, I did get that, it'd lead to problems if Hoppah tried to make it...

Thanks for that info Mike... helps me understand a lot of these things better.

[Sgt.Wulf]

And, what some people always don't realise, is that ladders are hardly meant for fighting high-rise fires.

The reach of ladders is rarely more than 100ft, and mostly under that. Firefighting seldom is the main motivation for ladder-trucks.

There are a bunch of tasks for ladders, starting from fires to traffic accidents. Usually they are used also in medical calls.

- With the crane or the ladder of the vehicle, one can lift wrecks, debris and patients from hard-to-reach places. Most of them have hook-points for chains and ropes, and with them, even special stretchers are easily lifted.

-Storm damage. There are escaping roofs, almost-fallen trees, rotten trees and what not. The long reach of the truck is usually well-suited for these jobs, when removing or cutting.

-Medical calls. After all, the men inside are firefighter/EMT's and usually the trucks are fitted with all the same gear as ambulances, minus stretchers. Ladders usually are more times free than reserved when compared to other trucks, so in many places and countries they are thought to be fit to handle other tasks aswell when they are free. They can also help with extracting patients from the most absurd places.

-Rescue of both humans and other animals fron high/low places.

-Fires. Well yeah, the firefigher with the fogfighter nozzle is usually the awesome pumping power. One can also use trucks for insertion of firefighters to roofs and upper floors of a house.

And imagination is the ceiling when thinking about what you can do with these.

[Guest Taylor]

I'm pretty sure Fort Lauderdale FD, the city right next to mine, has a giant ladder that does most of those things you described. It's even been featured on a tv show.

[Ami89E1234]

we have quints towers and ladders here. all mean something differnt but involve a ladder. tower just has a bucket with water. quint is just a stright stick with water and a ladder is just a ladder with no water or pump. i speed up the speed on my foam tender to get to fires faster. you know more realistick. i also took out hazmat unit in station 2 and put the foam tender in ther. only because there are not many hazmat issues.

A quint is any fire truck that does 5 jobs in 1 convenient package.

Be smart like the British... whenever they get big building fires they just set up monitors around the building and leave 1 truck behind for monitoring the fire. they let the fire burn out instead of risking lives to go inside (if there arent any people inside they need to rescue).

[Sgt.Wulf]

And what about protecting property?

[Ami89E1234]

do you really think property is more important than people? wow you really are weird.

if theres a big fire theres a very slight chance youll be able to save anything anyway. you really are having a bad day today... or is this every day for you?

[MikesPhotos]

'nuff said.

[Guest Taylor]

A quint is any fire truck that does 5 jobs in 1 convenient package.

Be smart like the British... whenever they get big building fires they just set up monitors around the building and leave 1 truck behind for monitoring the fire. they let the fire burn out instead of risking lives to go inside (if there arent any people inside they need to rescue).

SORT OF ON TOPIC: if you let the fire burnout.. doesn't it either usually spread or give you a mission failed?