From the SW 2000 hose cart to the hose laying system

Since the mechanisation of the fire brigade, i.e. more than 150 years ago, pressure hoses of the sizes C-52/C-42 and B-75 have been used. These two hose sizes have proven their worth for firefighting to this day.

For the laying of long distances, systems for pressure hoses of size B are still offered conceptually today. After the withdrawal of the DIN standards for the SW 1000 and SW 2000 hose carriages, interesting and technically advanced hose storage systems were developed by almost all vehicle manufacturers and suppliers for the newly standardised logistics vehicles, while retaining the hose sizes.

The deployment or laying of the hose, along an imaginary line, e.g. at the roadside, is only possible by additional personnel following behind the ejected hose. Recovering the hose is labour-intensive, extremely tedious and energy-sapping.

The performance development of fire pumps, which have gradually been introduced into fire brigades over the past 20 years, has been completely disregarded. This process is not over; further increases in performance are only a question of time.

The classic portable fire pump TS 8/8, which is used in thousands of fire brigades and has a flow rate of 800 litres at a delivery pressure of 8 bar, is now compared to portable pumps of size 10-1500, which have a flow rate of 1,500 litres at a delivery pressure of 10 bar.

After a short consideration, any local operation planning will have to realise that due to the high delivery flow, enormous pressure losses will occur and thus a second, parallel hose line will be necessary.

Fast, simple and flexible - the Brändle hose laying system solutions

At the latest when using an FP 10-2000 or even larger units, laying B-hoses over long distances will prove unsuitable. As an illustrative example, it should be mentioned that at a flow rate of 1,000 l/min, with an outlet pressure of 10 bar and a required pressure at the end of the hose of 2 bar, the value is already reached after 500 m with a B-hose. With an A hose, this only happens after 3 km.

A tactically excellent solution, very well applicable for the wide range of municipal fire brigades, is the use of A-hoses. For this hose cross-section, all fittings, hose bridges, etc. are available without restriction in the fire brigade catalogues.

High flow rates, the selection of the correct line cross-sections, pressure losses in the hoses, the installation of necessary booster pumps, targeted, safe hose routing and the retrieval of the hoses can be optimised excellently with new solutions.

For the application of B-hoses, roller containers for B-hoses have been developed, which can be equipped with an attachable electric hose holder.

The hoses that have been laid can be collected again with a minimum of manpower. The roll container remains on the vehicle.

Timely, tactically excellent solutions exist for the use of A-hoses.

The range of solutions starts with a roll container designed as equipment for logistics vehicles.

Solutions are also available on the basis of trailers, vehicles and even roll-off containers for interchangeable loader vehicles.