Balding O-4 Directs Firefighter with Hi-Tech

[CAMike]

And SHE IS SLOW! I hope she learns how to use ladders, and increase her liquid carrying capacity.

Seriously- "Olivia" has a lot of potential for shipboard FF, general DC and flight deck applications. It's the one area where hi-tech robot design will probably save lives out in the fleet.

 

[ea6bflyr]

How the hell is she going to get through knee knockers? Not sure she is quite ready for prime time. I have rocks in my yard that have potential.

-ea6bflyr

 

[MPH]

I'm guessing the face it makes @ 1:29 indicates the fire is not contained.

 

[scoolbubba]

Is she an O-4 because half her head's been removed? Or because she's slow, ineffective, and redundant?

 

[LFDtoUSMC]

Yeah, that's just not going to work out to well. I have no shipboard experience. But, I imagine it sucks more than structural firefighting, at least we can vent. I wonder how the robot is going to get commands when the operator is wearing an SCBA (can't be heard clearly) and is a zero visibility environment (can't see hand/arm motion).

I think that R&D money could have been spent a little wiser, just my opinion though. You guys have the shipboard FF knowledges I don't.

 

[AllAmerican75]

Yeah, that's just not going to work out to well. I have no shipboard experience. But, I imagine it sucks more than structural firefighting, at least we can vent. I wonder how the robot is going to get commands when the operator is wearing an SCBA (can't be heard clearly) and is a zero visibility environment (can't see hand/arm motion).

I think that R&D money could have been spent a little wiser, just my opinion though. You guys have the shipboard FF knowledges I don't.

We can vent if we need to, but it requires the CO's approval in order to cut into his ship. The biggest thing to worry about is de-watering the spaces that are on fire lest you sink the ship. Also, we have voice transmitter thingies on our SCBA masks that amplify your voice so you can actually attempt to communicate in a fire. I don't know how well they work in a real environment, not having the opportunity to play with them yet, but from what I have done firefighting-wise, I don't know how you'd hear anything over the sound of the roaring blaze in a space.

 

[LFDtoUSMC]

AllAmerican,

I can see the CO not exactly wanting to put the saw to the ship. I had not thought of the shipboard de-watering. I just assumed that had been thought of and drains were already in place. Do y'all just use salt water pumped straight from the body of water your in? I'm guessing that there is a system of stand pipes that you can hook into at frequent places? Or are there pre positioned attack lines like you see in hotel hallways?

The voice amplifiers actually work fairly well when you are in close proximity to the person speaking. The person using the voice-amp must remember that they need to speak much clearer and enunciate. Otherwise its just louder inaudible yelling versus understandable words. Youtube clips show me that y'all use Scott SCBA. Their voice-amps, in my personal humble opinion are OK, not great. We use Scott at work, but at my volunteer house we use MSA. I prefer their voice-amps, I think they produce a clearer sound. Again, that's just my opinion.

Yes, fire is loud. Just another myth that Hollywood has put into the minds of the public. Backdraft and Ladder 49 are to everyday firefighting as Top Gun is to everyday naval aviation.

 

[AllAmerican75]

AllAmerican,

I can see the CO not exactly wanting to put the saw to the ship. I had not thought of the shipboard de-watering. I just assumed that had been thought of and drains were already in place. Do y'all just use salt water pumped straight from the body of water your in? I'm guessing that there is a system of stand pipes that you can hook into at frequent places? Or are there pre positioned attack lines like you see in hotel hallways?

Not being very familiar with structural fire-fighting, I can't say for certain. We have a number of fire mains, with loops throughout the ship. There are a number of hook-ups throughout the ship with hoses and whatnot stowed in the various passageways.

We have five different systems onboard for firefighting, at least in the Old School Frigate Navy. Some of the newer ships have more modern systems. We have firemains throughout the ship for fighting class A fires. We also have halon and CO2 systems for engineering spaces and electrical fires, respectively. We then have PKP bottles for class B fires and AFFF bottles, stations, and drums for everything we need it for.

Really, beyond flooding, the problem with damage control is that everything on the ship is integral or organic to the ship. So if we have a casualty or take damage or something along those lines, we risk losing part of our ability to respond effectively because depending upon where it is, it could effect our systems or our ability to even reach the fire/flood/etc.

 

[LFDtoUSMC]

Interesting. Thank you for the down and dirty. Very insightful.

 

[Cobra Commander]

My CPU is a neural net processor...a learning computer. The more contact I have with oddly dressed men with bad hair, the more I learn. Seriously though, the face freaks me out. It's probably just playing dumb so it can sneak around the ship at night skinning people alive.