Andy Daley (BritishAndy) Photos

[Guest]

Hi Guys,

 

Now that the good weather has arrived, I have been out and about shooting apparatus on buffing trips. Last weekend was an excellent visit to the Birmingham area of England, this was pre-arranged by The Fire Brigade Society (www.thefirebrigadesociety)

 

Our first stop was Birmingham Airport. Although not as big or busy as Heathrow, Gatwick or Manchester, it offers flights to the UK, Europe, North America and the Middle East. It is actually the seventh busiest airport in the UK.

 

In 2013 they invested in a fleet of five brand new Oshkosh Strikers and finished them in their new corporate colours of blue and white.

 

This is the Airport Fire Station from a distance

 

 

[Guest]

Before we got down to apparatus photography, the guys insisted on putting on a hot fire demo on their 747 mock up. It was a hot day, and this made it get even warmer!

 

 

[Guest]

Going well!

[Guest]

Hit it with foam!

[Guest]

The fire was knocked down in seconds, all by remote control and without the crew leaving the rigs!

[Guest]

Two of the Strikers are fitted with Snozzle's so they can Pierce the skin of the aircraft

[Guest]

Fire 4

[Guest]

Fire 6

[Guest]

The Crash line with passing Ryan Air 737

[Guest]

The rest of the weekend was spent taking in stations of the West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS), this is the second largest brigade in England with 38 full-time stations and covering around 348 square miles. The first stop was Headquarters at Vauxhall, here the WMFS DIM Team is based - Detection, Identification and Monitoring. The DIM Units were supplied by the UK Government for incidents involving biological, nuclear, chemical or gas hazards and were to supplement existing resources. The WMFS have two DIM Units, this is a Mercedes Sprinter van.

 

 

[Guest]

The Government supplied DIM Unit was this rather plain looking Iveco Turbo Daily, unfortunately space was a bit tight at HQ so photographs weren't the best.

 

 

[Guest]

Next stop was Bickenhill, next to the Birmingham NEC Conference Centre. Bickenhill is one of two Technical Rescue Stations, they operate a Medium Rescue Pump which is kinda like an FDNY Squad, plus a 4x4 Light Rescue Unit.

 

We were lucky that the other Medium Rescue Pump was visiting Bickenhill so we took a line up shot.

[Guest]

2010 Volvo FL/JDC Medium Rescue Pump, it can operate as a standard pump (engine company), but more often will respond to MVA's, building collapses, water or sewer rescues etc.

 

 

[Guest]

2011 Mercedes Benz Sprinter 4x4

 

 

[Guest]

Lockers open

[Guest]

Rear shot

 

 

[nealcraig]

Sweet! Love the Airport pics!

[hank]

Good photos, Andy!

 

tHANKs

[TacSupport1]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing, I love that pumper, and the compartment shots! Neat to see efficiently it's setup, and how different it is from a US rig.

[cdmedlock]

Those Global Strikers look awesome with that paint job! Thanks for sharing!