Special firefighting gear extinguishes fire on Air Busan plane

It was reported that special firefighting equipment, also called an autonomous demolition fire vehicle, played a critical role in swiftly controlling the fire on an Air Busan plane at Gimhae International Airport in Busan, preventing it from leading to a deadly disaster.

The fire that ignited on the aircraft in question while it was preparing for takeoff at Gimhae International Airport at around 10:15 p.m. last Tuesday was put out after one hour and 16 minutes. At the time of the fire, as much as 16 tons of aviation fuel was contained in the aircraft wing with winds of 7 meters per second blowing through the area. Indeed, all of this could have evolved into a disastrous explosion.

The swift initial response was successful thanks to the unmanned demolition firefighting truck, which was introduced by the airport last year. The hard metal exterior of an aircraft makes it hard for water sprinkling from fire hoses on the ground level to reach a fire source inside. This special gear is equipped with a demolition iron ball and a nozzle at the tip of the crane 20 meters high. In the recent accident, this demolition device penetrated the aircraft’s exterior to allow a side-situated nozzle to eject water into the inner part, successfully containing the fire at the early stages.


부산=김화영 run@donga.com