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Airport Firefighting Truck
27 Jan 2023

News from CTIF Commission “Rescue and Fire Fighting at Airports” - Virtual meeting in November 2022

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Welcome

The Chairman Manfred Sommerer welcomed everybody to the virtual meeting. He explained as determined in the last meeting, a virtual meeting will take place in the second half of the year to maintain contact and to exchange the latest news.

Participants

  • Manfred Sommerer, Chairman
  • Veli-Matti Sääskilahti, Board member
  • Florian Monthoux, Board member
  • Vasileios Stefanioros, EASA
  • Andreas Rudlof
  • Gergó Bereczki
  • Trond Joranger
  • Ørnulf Rønningen
  • Antonios Panagiotakis
  • Vincent Robert
  • Hans Schmid
  • Simo Ekman
  • Lars Johansson
  • Andreas Lochmeier
  • Gorazd Zupančič
  • Gábor Nagy
  • Ulrich Bergkvist
  • Eike Peltzer

Associated Members:

  • Florian Funke
  • Sarah Wouterse
  • Philipp Platzl
  • Martin Gorski
  • Christoph Kirbach
  • Fabian Schmidt
  • Sebastian Mähler

Introduction of participants

After a few phone calls over the summer, it is a pleasure to announce that we have gained some new members. We would like to welcome the new ones in the group. Two of them are among us today:

  • From France: Vincent Robert, Aéroport de Paris
  • From Germany: Andreas Rudlof, Stuttgart Airport

Unfortunately, some new participants from the Netherlands, Luxemburg, Belgium and Germany are not with us today, and we hope to welcome them at the next meeting:

  • From the Netherlands: Arjan Bruinstoop
  • From Belgium: Jan Lambrechts, Danny Moerman and Yves Wilms, Brussels Airport
  • From Luxemburg: Gilbert Hoffmann, Luxemburg Airport
  • From Germany: Valentin Gangur, Frankfurt Airport (not participating)

Trond Joranger from Avinor informs the group that he will change his position in Avinor and that Ulrich Bergkvist will be his successor.

Oscar del Campo from Spain announced last summer that he leaves the group. He will provide us with the name of his successor.

The commission thanks Trond and Oscar for their work in this group and wishes them all the best for their next professional steps.

CTIF Commission Fire and Rescue at Airports

The Chairman Manfred Sommerer informs the participants about the Commission and the working methods in the group. The CTIF is an International Association of Fire and Rescue Services. So the main Topic in the Commission is to spread information within the National Associations to inform other airport fire and rescue services. All aerodromes should apply the RFF requirements in a similar way, but there are sometimes quite large differences in interpretation. This commission is a good way to discuss these differences.

The group is composed of various organisations such as national associations, civil aviation authorities, EASA representative and airport RFF services. And for technical questions regarding vehicles, equipment or training, we have representatives from the industry with us. We have an annual face-to-face meeting in spring and a virtual meeting in autumn.

For the distribution of general information, we have created a WhatsApp group with members and associate members. All participants are free to participate or not on the Whatsapp group. For hot topics we are gaining for knowledgeable presenters from organisations or companies.

For the preparation of the meetings and the administration, the elected members in the board, Veli-Matti Sääskilahti (specialist in online questionaires), Florian Monthoux (responsible for administration and documentation) and Ole J. Hansen (CTIF Vice President and responsible for Associated Members) are working in this constellation for the Commission.

The Chairman points out that the work and cooperation is not related to nation, religion, skin colour or gender. We are all in the same pot with the same tasks and the only way it is easier for us as individuals is to help each other. The CTIF code of conduct is available on the website for more information: CTIF adopts official Code of Conduct document against harassment and bullying

The Commission also has a website on which presentations of past meetings are available: Fire and Rescue at Airports - CTIF

News from each Countries and Companies

Round table discussion. After two years of difficulties for all airports in the world, each participant has 5 minutes to explain the recent changes or the current situation. The Covid-19 will have negative consequences for many years to come, but overall, the number of flights is returning to levels similar to the pre-Covid period.

FAA Fluorine Free Foam Testing and response to EASA

The FAA has published in July 2022 a report on the testing of fluorine-free foam. The conclusions of the report are interesting, as it calls into question the performance of Fluorine-free foams: None of the Fluorine-free foams evaluated had an equivalent or better extinguishing performance to Aqueous film forming foam.

Veli-Matti Sääskilahti explains that the Commission would carry out a survey to gather the opinion of the members and be able to send a consolidated opinion to EASA.

The presentation is attached to the Commission's webpage.

Presentation and Explanation Fluorine Free Foam

Eike Pelzer from Germany did a presentation on the transition from fluorine foam to fluorine-free foam, including test methods. He shared his opinion on the FAA report. Eike Pelzer has also made several Youtube videos on this topic to explain the issues and challenges (AFFF vs. fluorine-free foam - YouTube).

The presentation is attached to the Commission's webpage.

News from EASA, Vasileios Stefanioros

Vasileios Stefanioros gives an overview of the current situation of the EASA work. He mainly presents two topics: RFFS for General Aviation (An EASA decision will be issued soon) and Fluorine Free Foams. Furthermore, a working group will be established to examine the need to adapt/clarify some RFF requirements.

The presentation is attached to the Commission's webpage.

News from CTIF

The President of CTIF Milan Dubravac and the Vice President Ole J. Hansen are both not attending this meeting. The Chairman Manfred Sommerer gives a short overview of ongoing support for Ukraine. Some countries donate equipment and/or vehicles to substitute losses of fire trucks due to war. All cooperation between Russia and CTIF has been suspended.

Russia´s and Belarus’ membership has been put on hold, due to breaches of the Geneva Convention regarding violence against the civilian population, and in particular against first responders.

Conclusion and date of the next meeting

Annual Meeting 2023 in Switzerland, IFA (www.ifa-swiss.ch) from May 22 to May 24, 2023.

Presentations of the meeting