Magirus completes delivery of 17 fire engines to Austria’s Provincial Fire Brigade

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During the Florianifeier festivity on 4 May 2022, the Provincial Fire Brigade Association of Lower Austria received 17 new Magirus tank pumpers for wildfire applications

The handover was completed in the presence of Provincial Fire Brigade Commander Dietmar Fahrafellner, Diocesan Bishop Dr. Alois Schwarz, Federal Minister Karoline Edtstadler and Deputy Provincial Governor Dr Stephan Pernkopf,

“Climate change is increasingly bringing new demands to the fire service. Vegetation fires are increasing in severity and number and are placing particularly higher demands for the population, for the fire brigades and their equipment. Often, the areas of operation are difficult to access, water sources are not available or hardly accessible and the permanent unpredictability of the fires poses an additional danger”, explains Josef Huber, the Provincial Technology councillor for the Lower Austrian fire brigade association.

The new vehicle concept for the “Forest Firefighting Vehicle”, HLF2-WB, is based on the current existing recommendations for forest firefighting vehicles – coupled with the requirements of the HLF2 according to the construction guidelines of the Lower Austrian Fire Brigade Association, in order to achieve the highest possible benefit and operational utility in everyday use. The main differences to the standard HLF2: all-terrain chassis, extensive equipment which is specially designed for forest fighting and vegetation fires, midship-pump configuration in conjunction with a self-protection extinguishing system, additional heat-protection for aggregates, a cabin with roll-over protection as well as a modular designed interior to increase multiple use of the vehicle.

The ” fast attach vehicle” VFA is built on a Ford Ranger with an innovative exchangeable modular structure. In the basic configuration, a vegetation firefighting module is equipped with tank, centrifugal pump and engine-unit and forest firefighting equipment. The simple module change, the storage possibility and respectively the flexible worktable is realized with a multi-adjustable, mobile work/logistics module. Besides to the forest firefighting module, one of the vehicles is equipped with a commander-module.

The HLF2-WB are equipped with a Treibmatic winch and the VFA are equipped with an electric winch.

With these vehicles, in addition to the forest fire QUAD’s already in service, the Provincial Fire Brigade Association has now a complete and consistent forest firefighting unit, which has already been used in the firefighting operation in Hirschwang an der Rax (district of Neunkirchen). On this occasion, the vehicles have already passed a successful baptism of fire.

“It’s a special honour that the vehicle concept literally met the requirements even before the official ceremonial handover. Now, we can book a follow-up order for additional 8 HLF2-WB and 8 VFA vehicles”, states Christian Reisl, Managing Director of Magirus Lohr GmbH.

Magirus will not participate in Interschutz 2022

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In a major development, German truck manufacturer Magirus has announced it will not participate in this year’s Intershutz.

The firm said it made careful considerations, not to take part at the Interschutz 2022 exhibition and “allocate part of the planned investment to charitable initiatives in support of firefighters in the Ukrainian conflict”.

After two long years marked by the global pandemic, which has deeply depressed the business environment, the brand was already focusing its resources on the development of its “Next Generation Firefighting” portfolio.

A statement from Magirus added: “Now, the unexpected war in Ukraine is further impacting the whole automotive and firefighting industry. Issues ranging from chassis supply to logistics challenges and very significant cost increase acceleration require Magirus to take an even more decisive step in focusing on core activities: developing the best firefighting products and services to ‘serve heroes‘.”

The brand will continue its marketing efforts for the entire product portfolio through plans to conduct an roadshow, to participate at the September IAA Transportation event in Hannover, and to host an in-house Magirus fair in the latter part of the year on its home turf in Ulm, Germany.

Additionally, in light of the ongoing crisis, Magirus has donated two turntable ladders to firefighters in Ukraine and has decided to use part of the planned Interschutz investment where it can make an immediate positive impact, contributing to the German Fire Services Association’s charitable initiative in support of Ukraine. “Magirus remains more committed than ever to its clients, dealers, suppliers, and all its stakeholders and will start planning right away to find new direct and effective ways to engage with them on an ongoing basis,” the firm added.

Magirus shows what the new FireBull can do

by Featured News

Launch of the world’s first production-ready tracked fire engine, the Magirus FireBull combines efficient AirCore extinguishing technology, flexible superstructure options and the all-terrain PowerBully chassis from Kässbohrer Geländefahrzeug AG to form a fully developed solution for use in vegetation fires.

On the second day of this year’s press conference in Ulm, Magirus presented FireBull; another solution ready for series production in the field of off-road and forest fire engines. Magirus CEO, Marc Diening presented the unrivalled tracked fire engine to journalists, partners and invited guests on the company’s own test site: “The forest fire incidents of recent years have shown the high demand among fire departments and emergency services for effective and technically developed solutions. This is precisely where the FireBull comes in. It transports high payloads with minimum ground pressure over the most difficult terrain, ensuring maximum extinguishing power and safety for the emergency services at the same time.”

In its choice of chassis, Magirus remains true to its tradition of focusing on proven and practical solutions, which are reliable and durable, developed by leading manufacturers. Executive, Jens Rottmair is sure of the result of the cooperation: “More than 50 years of successful development expertise have gone into the PowerBully as well as plenty of practical experience in operational and logistics deployments in extremely rough terrain. All of this comes together with Magirus’ know-how and experience in firefighting superstructures and extinguishing technology to create a long-range off-road special vehicle for fire departments and disaster control.”

The PowerBully 18 T chassis with an engine power of 231 kW (310 PS) has a gross vehicle weight of 30,000 kg and reaches a speed of around 10 km/h. With an operating weight of around 26 tonnes, the vehicle has sufficient spare capacity for individual needs and equipment. Where wheeled vehicles reach their limits, the caterpillar drive provides the necessary agility combined with a high level of driving comfort – regardless of the surface. Thanks to its high payload with low ground pressure of only 0.300 kg/cm² – 30 times less ground pressure than a 6×6 truck – and a fording depth of 1,400 mm, it can be used not only in impassable terrain but also in peat fires, ground fires, smouldering fires or in swampy areas.

With a climbing performance of 31°(60%) and a maximum inclination across the slope of up to 21°(40%), the FireBull transports water or the required logistics safely up and down slopes. In the FireBull AirCore version, in addition to a 10,000 litre extinguishing agent tank (9,000 litres of water, 1,000 litres of foam agent), the AirCore MFT35-H extinguishing turbine with a capacity of up to 3,500 litres per minute is also available. The water mist technology enables efficient firefighting and humidification of the vegetation as well as high penetration depths into the vegetation. The water can be discharged while driving in Pump & Roll mode. In addition to a C-connection at the front, self-protection nozzles and heat protection on the underbody ensure maximum safety for the crew. At the same time, the concept offers a wide range of options, such as larger tank volumes and turbine variants, in order to be optimally equipped for the respective conditions.

With the FireBull, Magirus once again demonstrates its extensive expertise in the field of special vehicles and rounds off its comprehensive portfolio of off-road and forest fire-fighting vehicles with another powerful innovation. The FireBull will be on display at the FLORIAN trade fair in Dresden from 8 to 10 October 2020.