Misuse: firefighter armor

43

SLS-100 "Jay" in Balashikha. Photo: doroshenko-us.livejournal.com

Tank humanitarian mission


When танк There are several reasons why people join the fire service.

Firstly, tracked vehicles are often indispensable in the fight against forest fires due to their cross-country ability and the ability to deliver the extinguishing mixture directly to the front of the fire. The ignition temperature of rubber does not allow wheeled vehicles to rake burning debris and come close to the flame.



Secondly, the armor protects not only from extreme temperatures, but also from shrapnel and even direct hits from shells when artillery warehouses catch fire. That is why fire tanks first appeared in the military.


GPM-54. Source: fireman.club

In the Soviet Union, the Lviv Armored Plant (17th Repair Plant) was responsible for the production of armored vehicles for firefighters, which to this day converts tanks into fire engines.

The first order for unusual tracked vehicles came to Lviv in 1978 from the Main Missile andartillery management of the USSR Ministry of Defense. By that time, production documentation for the fire tank had been developed and prepared by engineers from the Kyiv 482nd KTC of the USSR Ministry of Defense.

Please note that fire armor was needed not by tankmen, but by artillerymen. This is largely due to the Siberian ammunition depots, which regularly suffer from forest fires.

For a while, the gunners made do with homemade products based on the decommissioned T-34s, but by the 70s, this technique was morally outdated. The military made serious demands on the developers - at least 10 tons of water on board, 2 tons of foam concentrate and the presence of a fire monitor with a water supply capacity of 40 liters per second.








GPM-54. Source: armor.kiev.ua

The T-54 was chosen as a platform, from which the turret was removed by hoisting a giant tank. Fortunately, there were a lot of tanks written off from service by that time. The new product was named accordingly - GPM-54 (tracked fire engine).

The very first tests showed that the T-54 is not the best suited for the role of a fire fighter, largely due to its large mass. The huge fuel consumption reduced the operating time of the fire tank, and the problem was solved by replacing the projectile armor with 20 mm steel sheets.

However, even in the deserted state, the curb weight of the car was excessive - it had to be reduced to 43 tons by reducing the stock of transported water to 9 tons.

The crew consisted of two people: a driver-mechanic and a fire-barrel operator, concurrently as a tank commander. The key disadvantage of the GPM-54 was the gear drive of the water pump, which did not allow the machine to simultaneously move and spray the flame with a fire-extinguishing mixture.

The power plant maintenance procedure also added complications. Directly above the tank diesel engine, a body with tanks raised on hydraulic cylinders was placed. Despite a sufficiently powerful pump, the firefighters lacked the speed of the water supply. In order to extinguish the flaming ammunition piles, a high flow rate of water was required. The range of the fire barrel was about 60 meters, the crew of the GPM-54 nevertheless had to approach the flame by 10 meters - only then the fire extinguishing efficiency was sufficient.

First of all, diesel engines that were out of order from overheating suffered from the extreme heat. The fire intensively burned out oxygen in the area, abundantly saturating the air with combustion products, which also caused the engines to stop. A fire tank that has died out in front of a burning arsenal is almost certainly a mass grave. The temperature around GPM-54 did not even allow the crew to get out of the car. Unfortunately, such tragedies happened ...








GPM-54. Source: armor.kiev.ua

Best of all, the Lviv fire tank coped with forest fires - for this it had a bulldozer blade. GPM-54 was capable of making passages and clearing burning rubble. In 2005, the Ukrainian tank was modernized, adding index 01 and new bulldozer equipment TBS-86. Another seat was added to the cockpit - the duties of the fire barrel operator could be removed from the vehicle commander.

The experience of extinguishing fires at arsenals in the 70s and 80s showed new vectors for the development of technology for such extreme conditions.

Firstly, it is very desirable to have a much larger one-time mass of "water shot" or at least a supply of fire-extinguishing mixture.

Second, high temperatures require remote control systems for fire tanks.

"Jay" and others


The next hero stories will become a tracked vehicle with a long name - a robotic self-propelled fire monitor SLS-100 "Jay".

A firebird appeared in response to the Chernobyl accident, but numerous difficulties made it possible to assemble the first prototype only by the end of the 90s. The base for the SLS-100 was the T-54/55, equipped with a remote control system and capable of operating near sources of radioactive and chemical contamination. When conditions permitted, the self-propelled carriage was operated by a crew of two inside an armored hull.










SLS-100 "Jay". Source: fireman.club

There was no need to lighten the Jay - the armor absorbed ionizing radiation quite effectively.

The self-propelled fire monitor did not have a supply of water on board, but pulled a 100-meter fire hose with it.

Developers from the All-Russian Order of the Badge of Honor of the Institute of Fire Protection (VNIIPO) and the Pozhmashina Design Bureau took into account the errors of the GPM-54 tank and equipped the Jay with a more powerful pump. Now water can be supplied to the hearth at a distance of 100 meters, and foam - from 70 meters.

By the way, "Jay" is installed on a pedestal near the main entrance of VNIIPO in Balashikha near Moscow. The production of a small series of a self-propelled gun carriage was established at the 61st repair plant in Petrodvorets.

The issue of remote control of fire tanks was resolved only in the late 90s. The problem of the volume of the fire-extinguishing salvo was overcome much earlier - in 1988, with the advent of the unique Impulse-2M vehicle. Experimental work in the direction received the characteristic name of the ROC "Braking", and the tracked vehicle itself at the final stage of revision was designated as "product 054".

The first experiments were carried out on the well-deserved T-55 chassis under the name "Impulse-1". The fire tank, which later became serial, was dispatched to the T-62 tank leaving the army and put on the roof ... a multiple launch rocket system! If you do not take into account the characteristic color of the car, then "Impulse - 2M" can be confused with TOS "Buratino".

The so-called multi-barrel module consists of 50 barrels, from which you can fire anything - liquids, gels, sand or powders, in general, anything that does not support combustion. It is worth noting that the fire tank did not fire rocket-propelled grenades, but rather fired at the center of the fire, as if from a cannon.

The T-62 platform made it possible to withstand the recoil of the machine from five consecutive volleys of ten barrels. If the operator cocked more than ten barrels by mistake, the automatics blocked the salvo.

An important feature of the new fire tank was the system for irrigating the armor with water or other insulating substances - the sad experience of the burnt-out GPM-54 was not in vain.


"Impulse-2M". Source: mpulse-storm.com




"Impulse-2M". Source: vpk.name

The mechanics of extinguishing the burning artillery depots were simple.

Unlike its predecessor GPM-54, "Impulse" did not need to approach the fire at a distance of 10 meters - 70-100 meters was enough. Further, the operator pointed the launch module with 200-mm barrels and fired a single shot, or immediately a volley. The flame was extinguished by the projected substance (water, sand, and so on), and was also knocked down by the shock wave, blocked by the explosion products and crushed into small, not so dangerous, foci.

In each barrel of "Impulse-2M" it was possible to drive up to 30 kg of substance. It was a real Soviet know-how, the author of which was Vladimir Dmitrievich Zakhmatov, a junior researcher at the Explosion Geodynamics Department of the Institute of Geophysics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The scientist not only proposed to extinguish the fire with an explosion, but also successfully tested his extinguishing bombs in Chernobyl in 1986.

The fire tank demonstrated impressive performance in practice.

For example, once the developers filled a 30-meter ravine 2 meters deep with rubber tires, filled everything with a ton of diesel fuel and 150 liters of gasoline. They set fire to and sent to investigate the crew on the "Impulse-2M". The tank suppressed the fire with eight volleys from 10 barrels from a distance of 10 meters.

To be continued ...
43 comments
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  1. +6
    3 November 2021 18: 10
    on board at least 10 tons of water, 2 tons of foaming agent and the presence of a fire monitor with a water supply capacity of 40 liters per second.

    It takes 4 minutes of work what But.
  2. +3
    3 November 2021 18: 11
    The right unit, definitely ...
  3. The comment was deleted.
  4. 0
    3 November 2021 18: 20
    By the way, Zakhmatov was the first (if I remember correctly) to propose extinguishing and dampening burning oil and gas wells with a directed explosion.
    1. +4
      3 November 2021 20: 12
      A gas well in Uzbekistan was extinguished by an explosion back in 1965.
  5. +3
    3 November 2021 20: 18
    The first order for unusual tracked vehicles came to Lviv in 1978 from the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Defense.
    Still, it was GRAU who was responsible for the arsenals and the fires were supposed to be extinguished by its employees ... It is strange that no one thought to use converted flamethrower tanks of the OT-54/55 type for extinguishing, when instead of a fire mixture it would be possible to throw out fire extinguishing powder
  6. +2
    3 November 2021 20: 36
    Very interesting! We look forward to continuing!
  7. +2
    3 November 2021 20: 39
    Doesn't the rubber on the rollers burn?
    1. +1
      3 November 2021 21: 06
      Is burning. In the article it is written - the ignition temperature of rubber does not allow the technique to come close to the combustion center
      1. 0
        4 November 2021 13: 58
        For wheeled vehicles, in fact, it's not a problem to get close to a fire - remember the metal tires of tractors of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This means that any wheeled decommissioned armored vehicles can be subjected to such a conversion - they are lighter and have larger volumes inside. In addition, there are now refractory basalt and asbestos fabrics and corrugated metal hoses, which allows fire hoses made from them to be used in fires and also to organize irrigation of fire-sensitive suspension elements.
        The main problem is that such equipment is not supplied by factories in series abroad, although customers could be found in the world.

        [media = https: //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Case_Antique_Tractor.jpg]
        1. +1
          4 November 2021 14: 31
          As a former senior lecturer at the Institute of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, I can confidently assert that there are standards for the location of equipment when working with a combustion center for the safety of both personnel and equipment itself. The standards were not invented by me, they were created due to the danger due to heat transfer by infrared radiation. It is possible that since then the materials have changed in terms of fire resistance and the standards could be revised. How? I do not know because I am already far from all this.

          Threat asbestos has not been used for a long time due to its non-environmental friendliness and harmfulness to the respiratory tract. Even in my time it was known and accepted normatively. As for the basalt fillers - I don't remember already.
          Already in my time, fire hoses for the positions of the gunners were changed from tarpaulin to new ones made of cunning synthetics that did not burn and almost did not melt even with prolonged fire contact.
          1. -1
            4 November 2021 17: 59
            asbestos has not been used for a long time due to its environmental friendliness and harmfulness to the respiratory tract. Even in my time it was known and accepted normatively.



            Yes, asbestos is harmful. But the question is how to use it and how to pay for it. You can think of disposable asbestos sleeves, which are usually in a plastic bag in which they were sealed at the factory. Used - recycle at the factory. And it's much better to have sleeves like that than not. The standards, respectively, are written according to the level of attainable technical progress.
            There is another option - for safety, the asbestos sleeve should be inserted into a double plastic sleeve. Accordingly, in a fire on the sleeve, the plastic will burn off and the asbestos will work anyway. Then the sleeve is disposed of or refilled with plastic channels at the factory. And such a sleeve is better to have than not to have but to have a tarpaulin.

            The same applies to technology - you can equip the wheels with steel rims or make the tires braided from asbestos fiber, supplement the cabin with a high pressure cylinder for breathing and a tank of a liquid oxidizer for an internal combustion engine, like hydrogen peroxide - and the standards can be changed and other opportunities will appear.
            And new commercial markets - for example, asbestos special fireworks, you can build a plant and export such products for fire services and metallurgy in other countries.
            1. +1
              5 November 2021 12: 43
              Quote: ycuce234-san
              new commercial markets - for example, asbestos special fireworks, you can build a plant and export such products for fire services and metallurgy in other countries.

              Yeah, asbestos is banned almost everywhere...Who CAN buy such tires???
              1. 0
                5 November 2021 12: 47
                Legal entity, of course - no one forbids transporting and using, for example, highly active isotopes for radiation therapy; chemicals are transported by rail in hundreds of tons at a time.
                All this is oncogenic, mutagenic, and they work with it with the use of security measures.
                And then there are some special tires.
                1. +1
                  5 November 2021 19: 31
                  There are a bunch of substitutes for asbestos. No one will allow you to use anything if there are substitutes.
                  For example, there was chlorophos in the USSR - an amazing remedy for the Colorado potato beetle. Only it is a strong poison and accumulates in the body. Naturally it was banned - because there are substitutes

                  Quote: ycuce234-san
                  highly active isotopes for radiation therapy; chemicals are transported by rail in hundreds of tons at a time.

                  All this is transported and used with a bunch of security measures - excluding the access of unauthorized persons.
                  And special tires with asbestos will wear out while driving and their dust will be uncontrollable.
                  1. 0
                    5 November 2021 23: 32
                    Of the 2 million tons of annual production, only 1 million tons of asbestos is Russian. So the statement that it was harshly and universally banned is not entirely accurate - it was forbidden to use it in housing construction, but this does not mean that it is not used in mechanical engineering, chemistry and many other places, even in industrial and electrical engineering.
                    And the firefighting equipment from its service basically spends most of its time before decommissioning, standing in the garage, unlike a truck or a taxi, for example, and there will be asbestos in those tires - on a binder chemical mass. There is no need to worry that this kind of "device" will go on free sale in the network of car dealerships.
  8. +1
    3 November 2021 21: 10
    I would like to hear the opinion of at least someone who has come across
    For a while, the gunners made do with homemade products based on decommissioned T-34s,
    ... What it is and what it looked like. I am 100 percent sure that someone has a photo and a memory of such cars.
  9. +3
    3 November 2021 21: 34
    Great article! Author! We are looking forward to the continuation!
  10. +5
    3 November 2021 21: 37
    Author add a fire tank based on T-34
    1. +1
      3 November 2021 23: 35
      Why don't we have this technique now? for extinguishing forests?
      We need to create special forces with such equipment!
      1. +2
        4 November 2021 00: 32
        We have such vast spaces that the question of it is inappropriate to extinguish the verse with aviation is raised. And you mean tracked vehicles weighing tens of tons. It will be a year before the fire.
        1. +1
          4 November 2021 00: 41
          Of course, we are not talking about extinguishing the taiga in the wilderness.
          And for example, to cut off fire from residential areas in the same Siberia! The issues of equipment delivery are also solvable, if there is a desire!
      2. +2
        4 November 2021 03: 19
        Quote: ved_med12
        Why don't we have this technique now? for extinguishing forests?
        We need to create special forces with such equipment!

        Why not? There is! Even fire trains !!!

        1. +6
          4 November 2021 12: 08
          Our research institute developed a fire train. It burned down a week before the exhibition. The director was almost running around with a saber. Hush ...
          And there are such incidents))
    2. The comment was deleted.
  11. NSV
    +2
    3 November 2021 21: 54
    Interesting! Respect to the author!
    Continuation!!!)
  12. The comment was deleted.
    1. 0
      3 November 2021 23: 13
      Firefighter or Firefighter? FIREBREAKER !!!!!!!
      1. 0
        4 November 2021 14: 14
        A firefighter is one who sleeps wherever he gets, they are firefighters.
  13. +1
    3 November 2021 23: 29
    author-->author-->author RESPECT!!!!
    Something new and really interesting!
  14. +2
    4 November 2021 00: 44
    In our city, near the fire academy, they installed an armored personnel carrier with a system like the Impulse-2m. Only the number of trunks is much less
  15. +1
    4 November 2021 01: 20
    Heavy fire fighting equipment overview
  16. +2
    4 November 2021 12: 10
    I remember that in Ukraine, near Dnepropetrovsk, in 2010, I saw from the window of a carriage on a nearby track a recovery train, on the platforms of which there was a pair of tractors based on ISU-152 in white. Holes for tools with welded plates.
    And then I was very surprised by the very fact of the presence of such dinosaurs.
    1. +1
      5 November 2021 12: 45
      Quote: Jager
      I remember that in Ukraine, near Dnepropetrovsk, in 2010, I saw from the window of a carriage on a nearby track a recovery train, on the platforms of which there was a pair of tractors based on ISU-152 in white. Holes for tools with welded plates.
      And then I was very surprised by the very fact of the presence of such dinosaurs.

      At SevKavZhD he was a tractor as part of the Sherman repair train.
  17. +2
    4 November 2021 13: 55
    The temperature around GPM-54 did not even allow the crew to get out of the car. Unfortunately, such tragedies happened ...
    Yes, a terrible death. But I think that the paired use of vehicles and the well-established tactics of the escape of the crew of an emergency vehicle under the cover of a curtain could help to avoid this.

    Thank you for the article!
  18. 0
    5 November 2021 12: 51
    Great! good Regarding the operation of tracked vehicles, I read with great interest. And also inspired
    Everything is as usual. There is a time to tear down, but there is always a time to build. The armor is just like a military pensioner.
  19. +2
    5 November 2021 14: 04
    A huge thank you to the author...nevertheless I will tell a funny story with the Impulse...at the 3rd Yalta fire I don't know for what reasons, everything seemed to be going well, despite the large failure of equipment, but the command decided to use this very Impulse, which was located at the base of the 19th SGPCh in Simferopol,...well, it was delivered on a tractor, and up the thread to the clearing (firefighting headquarters) it had to get under its own power. but literally 300 meters before reaching it, it stalled, thereby cutting off the supply to the clearing, and at that moment only Bolivar (ZIL 131 diesel), Nevalyashka (Unimog) and a couple of shishigas (GAZ-66) remained in service... they barely managed to overcome this distance to the clearing in a bunch, where this Impulse stood for a couple more months after the end of operational actions to extinguish it... well, even if it had crawled, what use would it be on goat paths... so that's the story