July 27, 2010: Fire Bike

[xoxoxoBruce]

An old idea resurrected in Britain, using especially equipped motorcycles to get to fires quickly, and taking care of small fires themselves.

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service is trialling two motorbikes which will be sent out instead of fire engines if fires are not deemed a threat to people or buildings. The 1,200cc bikes by BMW cost about £30,000 in total each to buy and to equip so they are suitable for firemen to use.

A spokesman for Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service said: "About 60 per cent of what we do is putting out "rubbish fires". These are fires that don't pose a threat to people or buildings. If approved this trial would enable us to buy more bikes and have them in stations where they have the highest incidences of these kind of fires. It is an expensive bike but then a fire appliance costs £250,000. It also means roads aren't blocked with 17 tonne fire engines which will be carrying life-saving equipment that could be used elsewhere."

Like I said, not a new idea, but new technologies make it much more practical.



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