The organization of fire protection at the civil airdromes.

BRANCH FIRE SAFETY

According to type of tasks, the fire protection in civil airdromes (CA) is subdivided into two directions: maintenance of fire safety of flights; fire protection of aircraft equipment and objects.

Maintenance of flights’ fire prevention is a set of actions, which purpose is fire extinguishing on the aircraft that have arisen under aviation or extreme events at territory of civil airdromes. The goal of flights’ fire prevention is arrangement of conditions for passengers’ life saving that are on board.

Fire protection of aircraft equipment and objects are the set of actions directed on fires prevention on aeronautical engineering and objects, their before-the-fact revealing and the requirement for safe evacuation of people and wealth, and on equipment of buildings, constructions, storages of motor fuels, lubes, greases and parking area of aircraft with fire fighting appliance.

There are different techniques of tasks performance which are faced with these two directions of fire safety. Fire safety of flights is achieved mainly as follows: equipment of airlines with more and more new perfect fire-and-rescue equipment and extinguishants; the high organization of fire-and-rescue commands; correct and duly using of fire-and-rescue means; improvement of techniques of fire extinguishing and methods of passengers’ rescue on the aircraft; high vocational training of personnel.

Fire protection of aviation techniques and objects is achieved by means of permanent carrying out of fire preventive work with the purpose of before-the-fact revealing and removing the causes, which generate the fires.

At this time, the questions of the organization of flights fire safety in airport airfields are placed high emphasis on (practically in all countries where civil aviation is widely advanced). And, in particular, from the direction of International Civil Aviation Organization — ІCАО.

Problems of wrecking and fire safety equipment of flights at the airports of member states of ІCАО are regulated in the Appendix 14 to Convention on the international civil aviation and the Manual on airport services, 1st part “Rescue and fighting the fire”.

According to these documents member states of ІCАО should provide the creation of wrecking and fire safety equipment and services at the airports which major task is life saving. The purpose of actions scheduling is minimizing consequences of the accidents, first of all for the human being life saving. This concept basically is laid in the requirements of supervising documents on maintenance of flights fire safety.

Their contents can be reduced to the following requirements:

— creating in airfields of fire-and-wrecking subdivisions;

— coordination of interactions of fire-and-wrecking subdivisions of airfields with paramilitary fire-fighting detachments of other departments;

— requirements to a level of fire protection of airfield;

— requirements to duration of expansion of fire-and-wrecking service;

— requirements to forcing-engines;

— requirements to communication and reporting facilities;

— requirements to the personnel of fire-and-wrecking subdivisions.

Let’s consider more comprehensively how the requirements on maintenance of flights fire safety are realized. These requirements are dictated, first of all, by requirements of norms of suitability — the minimal government regulations and requirements to civil aerodromes which have as a goal the flights safety of the aircraft.

Requirements are obligatory for performance by all ministries, the State Committees, the enterprises, establishments and the organizations which take part in designing, equipment, reception, certification, operation and reconstruction of airfields.

The norms of suitability must correspond to survival equipment in airfield to perform the wreckings under aviation accidents on the aircraft. It includes fire engineering and crew of fire-and-wrecking subdivisions which is part of rescue crews of the airports. They are equipped with fire engineering, extinguishants, special wrecking equipment and always should be ready to immediate actions.

There are the posts of fire fighters in staffs of subdivisions of paramilitary fire-fighting units. Their primary task consists in duty in fire-and-wrecking subdivisions, maintenance and constant operational readiness of fire engineering and the equipment, realization of supervision over take-off and landing of the aircraft on runway, readiness for immediate departure on alarm in a case of aviation accident.

Fire-and-wrecking unit can consist of one or several crews on fire-engine depending on a type of the airport and a category of the airfield according to a level of necessary fire protection.

The chief of starting fire-and-wrecking unit is the chief of the main crew at the same time. The structure of a crew includes the driver and fire-engine operator. Thus, crew size on a fire-engine is established in three persons, and on the main heavy automobile — in four ones.

Fire-and-wrecking unit is included into a structure of rescue-and-wrecking crew of the airport and it is the basic staff service at carrying out of wreckings.

As a result the structure of airfield fire-and-wrecking subdivisions is as folows: а) staff starting fire-and-wrecking unit; б) fire-and-rifle unit organized from rifle-firemen off from performance of duty on posts; в) specially organized and trained sections of a voluntary fire-brigade.

Let’s consider more comprehensively how are the requirements on maintenance of flights fire safety realized.