Removal of fire extinguishers from police cars

[Davo]

Extinguishers (AFF car size) are being removed from police cars to save money.
I am told a fire officer has said they are not much good, especially in untrained hands.
The cost saving is five figures I believe.
Obviously I will be seeking further info etc, any comments would assist, cheers


davo

[kurnal]

Why were they originally provided Davo? For the protection of the Police car or for the Bobbies to use should they arrive first on the scene of a fire or accident?

A small dry powder will have much better knock down than an equivalent foam, but much worse burnback.

[AnthonyB]

I will admit that the type used isn't always best. In the good old days a 3lb or 1.5kilo BCF was used and was good enough to deal with most things.

One forces went to the to the extreme of 2kilo powder plus in all vans a 6 kilo Powder just a few years ago.

We use the humble 1l AFFF, which in untrained hands is a bit duff, but better than nothing. It doesn't cost our force 5 figures either although that's because we don't service them annually and have a pool stock at each station, swapping if used or out of the green, and don't use the main contractor who does premises extinguishers but a far cheaper local firm.

Would you remove the first aid kits? If not, then why the extinguishers as they have proven to be handy over the years, but of course no-one bothered to keep stats.

You could save a lot of money instead by moving to disposables that are service free, such as the Fireblitz and Britannia 900g Powders, BS6165 approved.

[Golden]

I noted one PC using his CO₂ as a deterrent against an angry pit bull on 'send in the dogs' on TV last night. A new selling point/standard for BAFE perhaps?

[Davo]

Golden

We did this also, before the advent of pepper sprays

CO2s are also useful for rolling over exit loops to get you into HQ car park behind the gatekeeper's back

davo

[AnthonyB]

CO2 is still used sometimes by some forces on planned raids, both for risks where sparking tools are used to defeat security measures and also for animals.

On the beat you have of course got Captor, however if one of the small number of forces that still uses CS that doesn't work!

[SeaBass]

Don't know if they have since reversed the decision, but the MOD (Army) removed extinguishers from their transport vehicles when BCF was withdrawn from use.  I believe the decision was based on the frequency of vehicle loss through fires balanced against the cost of providing the extinguishers in the first place and the cost and logistical problems of servicing them once they were in service.  Not that the MOD have a particulary good record on fire risk management  ……….….how many times was Donnington Army depot burnt down? 

[AnthonyB]

Vehicle mounted BCF portables were replaced in the early/mid 90's (certainly 1994-onwards) by olive drab Firemaster and Amerex 2 kilo ABC Powders & post EN3 moved to red Firemaster EN3 (yes you would see a camouflage lorry with a dirty great bright red can on the  outside of the cab).

In the last few years the cab size have started to disappear from lorries (not armoured vehicles), but several lorries now have underbody Jonesco olive drab 6 kilo extinguisher boxes instead

[Dinnertime Dave]

……….….how many times was Donnington Army depot burnt down? 

I think you find it was twice. The second time was two weeks after I attended a presentation entitled - 'The lessons learnt from the Donnington fire'.

[The Colonel]

They also burnt down large storage warehouses at a depot outside Hereford on two occasions,. MOD were good customers in Herefordshire with both storage, RAF and a certain elite regiment based in the county.