I can totally see that thing plowing into the side of a smoked-in mountain, and making things amazingly worse. Also, I can't imaging it being able to make anywhere near reasonably quick avoidance maneuvers
@farcedude: I doubt that this thing will be flying low enough to crash. However, I fail to comprehend how this is anywhere as effective as using smaller planes. I mean, it's a freaking jumbo jet, which means that:
1. It's expensive to maintain.
2. It has to carry it's own weight (so sacrifices proportionally more lift that could be used to carry water).
3. It's jet-powered, so it's minimum speed is higher than might be optimal for water-pouring planes.
4. It is hard to maneuver due to size.
5. It can't refill at lakes, and since it's a freaking jumbo jet, it won't be able to land at most air fields either.
@Gillonde: Who cares. I'd be more impressed if it shot out 20,500 gallons of agent orange, or napalm, that way the fire has nothing left to get and it puts itself out.
I love it when gadgets like this get posted. It gives us all an opportunity to bullsh*t about things we know nothing about, like firefighting.
Who knows if this is a viable or life saving device? All I can do is agree with the poster that it sounds really cool. Missile. Water cannon. Fire. yay!
@habib15: True, fire needs O2, but so do those pesky victims/survivors. I don't want to be the first person who authorizes and the first person to fire one into a building which was "evacuated" and they find somebody who died with no smoke in their lungs, but died of asphyxiation.
Well, to start with, fire hose is HEAVY. And it's usually kept in rolls. So do you have to unroll the whole roll before you shoot it and ensure the pile of hose isn't tangled? B/c I doubt this has enough pressure/weight to life the hose AND unroll it. Sure you could go with a smaller hose, but the pressure in the line if you reduce the diameter of hose must be high.
And just wait until one of these knocks out a fireman or a victim as it sails through the window. Or even worse, knocks something over to make the fire worse. I liked the CO2/foam grenade launcher you guys featured a few months back. More practical.
@KHAN!!!_GitEmSteveDave: At a constant GPM, yes, pressure is higher in smaller diameter hose. However, hose is tested to around 500 psi - so I wouldn't worry too much about that.
Other problems exist though: even if it didn't flop around, the water doesn't necessarily go to the seat of the fire, or if there's rollover going on, it doesn't cool that down. Also, the weight of the hose outside the window would certainly pull the whole thing out of the house.
@Denver_80203: Since this is a concept, I doubt the designer thought of all these points, as he never addresses the majority of the hose in his descriptions/illustrations. If getting water "Anywhere" is important, then the powerful, aimable large diameter hose on the end of the ladder would be better. I live across the street from a high school where the local town's fire crews come to practice when the parking lot is empty. From one end of the lot, then can hit the other end with a massive amount of water from the nozzle at the end of the hose. And when towing a heavy line behind it, it's hard for this to be accurate, especially if that hose catches/loops around itself at any point along it's length.
Just think about/try this. Take a 3/8 standard garden hose. Tie a 5 pound weight to the end. Go out into the yard, and with the hose coiled, throw it. It's not going to go far/be accurate. Uncoil the line, now try to throw it. Again, not accurate. Now, if the picture above is to scale, that end piece is dragging a two inch firehose behind it which weighs as much if not more than a garden hose. Trying to get this into a four foot tall window usually crossed with muntins at a distance, and it becomes harder.
@Eavangel: If this could carry a two inch line like the designer says it could, then yeah I think it could seriously injure someone/kill if they were hit in the chest/head.
@Geisrud: I know they are rated for the pressure, but it's been my observation that the more pressure in the hose, the more it wants to straighten out, which could cause this slide out of the window like you say. It could also be dangerous as when the hose pressurizes, the end would whip around:
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1. It's expensive to maintain.
2. It has to carry it's own weight (so sacrifices proportionally more lift that could be used to carry water).
3. It's jet-powered, so it's minimum speed is higher than might be optimal for water-pouring planes.
4. It is hard to maneuver due to size.
5. It can't refill at lakes, and since it's a freaking jumbo jet, it won't be able to land at most air fields either.
So yeah... Or maybe I'm completely wrong.
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Who cares. I'd be more impressed if it shot out 20,500 gallons of agent orange, or napalm, that way the fire has nothing left to get and it puts itself out.
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01/15/09
Who knows if this is a viable or life saving device? All I can do is agree with the poster that it sounds really cool. Missile. Water cannon. Fire. yay!
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Oh. Right.
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first the projectile knocks you unconscious and then the hose douses your defenseless body...
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Kinda like a rocket propelled fire extinguisher but on a larger scale.
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And just wait until one of these knocks out a fireman or a victim as it sails through the window. Or even worse, knocks something over to make the fire worse. I liked the CO2/foam grenade launcher you guys featured a few months back. More practical.
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Other problems exist though: even if it didn't flop around, the water doesn't necessarily go to the seat of the fire, or if there's rollover going on, it doesn't cool that down. Also, the weight of the hose outside the window would certainly pull the whole thing out of the house.
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Aim is critical.. you don't get two shots (i'm thinking)
If a building is burning enough, just getting water in there ANYWHERE is important.. if only to save surrounding buildings.
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Just think about/try this. Take a 3/8 standard garden hose. Tie a 5 pound weight to the end. Go out into the yard, and with the hose coiled, throw it. It's not going to go far/be accurate. Uncoil the line, now try to throw it. Again, not accurate. Now, if the picture above is to scale, that end piece is dragging a two inch firehose behind it which weighs as much if not more than a garden hose. Trying to get this into a four foot tall window usually crossed with muntins at a distance, and it becomes harder.
@Eavangel: If this could carry a two inch line like the designer says it could, then yeah I think it could seriously injure someone/kill if they were hit in the chest/head.
@sonburn: Yeah, it looks like 2 inch line.
@Geisrud: I know they are rated for the pressure, but it's been my observation that the more pressure in the hose, the more it wants to straighten out, which could cause this slide out of the window like you say. It could also be dangerous as when the hose pressurizes, the end would whip around:
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News: ______ shoots gas propelled hose at ________
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