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> Barwick says that most of the European aerials she has seen are smaller than their U.S. counterparts. “Europe keeps its aerial units quite small, likely becau

> Barwick says that most of the European aerials she has seen are smaller than their U.S. counterparts. “Europe keeps its aerial units quite small, likely because of the street limitations and the building heights and construction,” An American-style 100-foot turntable ladder [3] might have a 5.8m wheelbase and a 12m overall length, whereas a typical European 32-meter ladder is more like a 4.8m wheelbase and 10m overall length [4]. Prior to 2017, London's fire brigade only operated 32m ladders - which can only reach the 10th floor of a tower block - because at the time of purchase, the longer ladders on the market would have struggled to navigate London's streets. LFB recently got some 64m ladders [1] (to reach the 20th floor) after an awful fire in a 24-storey tower block which killed a lot of people. Surprisingly, the new ladder trucks aren't actually that much bigger in terms of wheelbase - but they're twice the weight, have four axles instead of 2, and the telescoping ladder has 7 sections instead of the usual 4/5. [1] https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/news/2021-news/november/london-fire-brigade-to-bring-in-uk-s-tallest-aerial-ladder-into-operational-use/ https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/news/2021-news/november/londo... [2] https://www.magirusgroup.com/de/en/serving-heroes/deliveries/detail/delivery/three-m64l-for-london-11-2021/ https://www.magirusgroup.com/de/en/serving-heroes/deliveries... [3] https://1641088.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/1641088/New_Deliveries_Files/36712AD.pdf?noresize https://1641088.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/1641088... [4] https://www.magirusgroup.com/de/en/serving-heroes/deliveries/detail/delivery/m32l-at-for-bad-frankenhausen-07-2022/ https://www.magirusgroup.com/de/en/serving-heroes/deliveries...

tialaramex 4y ago
The Grenfell Tower tragedy is mostly not a story about not having big enough ladders, or at least, that's probably not a good way to solve the problem. It's a story about committing to one reasonable strategy (remain in place, don't evacuate tall residential buildings but instead design and build tall structures so that all plausible fires will be contained and can be fought inside) but then deciding implementation of that strategy is too expensive so you won't bother (these materials are cheaper, and look nicer, so too bad that now the building has no fire integrity). Unfortunately, despite originally announcing it will "implement in full" any and all recommendations from the investigation into Grenfell, the Tory government decided that actually the recommendations made (e.g. "Personal evacuation plans" for the disabled - figure out what that nice lady in a wheelchair living up on 18 is supposed to do when the elevators are out of action during a fire) were expensive so they just won't.
- michaelt 4y ago
  Oh yeah, the ladders were mostly a side-issue considering Grenfell Tower fire as a whole. I focused on them because this is an article about fire trucks navigating european city streets. The main Grenfell story IMHO is about Arconic, Kingspan and Celotex obtaining fraudulent certifications saying their flammable cladding products weren't flammable, and a light-touch regulatory system letting them get away with it. And the TMO attempting a refurbishment where they only had budget for the flammable ACM - so anyone who bid on the work with safe materials was knocked out of the contest.

tialaramex 4y ago

The Grenfell Tower tragedy is mostly not a story about not having big enough ladders, or at least, that's probably not a good way to solve the problem. It's a story about committing to one reasonable strategy (remain in place, don't evacuate tall residential buildings but instead design and build tall structures so that all plausible fires will be contained and can be fought inside) but then deciding implementation of that strategy is too expensive so you won't bother (these materials are cheaper, and look nicer, so too bad that now the building has no fire integrity). Unfortunately, despite originally announcing it will "implement in full" any and all recommendations from the investigation into Grenfell, the Tory government decided that actually the recommendations made (e.g. "Personal evacuation plans" for the disabled - figure out what that nice lady in a wheelchair living up on 18 is supposed to do when the elevators are out of action during a fire) were expensive so they just won't.

michaelt 4y ago
Oh yeah, the ladders were mostly a side-issue considering Grenfell Tower fire as a whole. I focused on them because this is an article about fire trucks navigating european city streets. The main Grenfell story IMHO is about Arconic, Kingspan and Celotex obtaining fraudulent certifications saying their flammable cladding products weren't flammable, and a light-touch regulatory system letting them get away with it. And the TMO attempting a refurbishment where they only had budget for the flammable ACM - so anyone who bid on the work with safe materials was knocked out of the contest.