MIAA general manager Alfonso Cusi inspected the other day the two Titan 6x6 units recently shipped from the US. The trucks were recently acquired by the agency for P43 million each. They were supplied by one of America’s best known firetruck suppliers, the E-One Company.
"Now, MIAA’s emergency response capability is further enhanced with the acquisition of these new firetrucks," Cusi said.
He added that MIAA was assured of having firemen trained to operate the firetrucks. "We sent six of our firemen to a weeklong training in the US to prepare them for the Titan 6x6."
Before the addition of the new units, MIAA had eight firetrucks in their fleet, three of which are under repair. Of the five serviceable firetrucks, one is a Titan HPR 8x8.
MIAA, which operates the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) passenger terminals I and II and the domestic arport, was the first in Asia to boast of having a Titan HPR 8x8 in 1999. The vehicle is equipped with a hydrochem nozzle able to penetrate the fuselage of an aircraft.
The NAIA is categorized by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as a Category 9 airport.
Under the category, the ICAO prescribes certain emergency response capabilities for airport authorities. The present capability of the NAIA is now above performance Level A, meaning that with all its firetrucks combined, the NAIA is capable of supplying more than the required 36,000 liters of water when responding to an airport emergency.
The Titan 6x6 has a 3,000-gallon (11,356 liter) capacity enabling it to utilize its two ground sweep and four under truck nozzles to full capacity. The ground sweep and truck nozzles are both utilized to suppress fire on the ground.
The dual ground sweep nozzles have a fan pattern width of 12" and a range of 30" ahead of the vehicle. Its discharge rate is 50 gallons per minute per nozzle. The under truck nozzles, on the other hand, can discharge 20 GPM each.
The Titan also boasts of a roof and bumper turret, which can release both water and foam, depending on what is selected by controls in the operator cab. The roof turret is capable of rotating 120 degrees to either side of center, and depressed 20 degrees and raised 45 degrees.
The bumper turret is designed to limit the upward and downward direction of the wide fog pattern to improve operator visibility and results in a flat fog pattern when fully dispersed.
Another feature of the Titan is its "dry chemical" capability which smothers aircraft fire. What sets the Titan 6x6 apart from the rest of the MIAA fleet is its capability to carry water, dry chemical and foam suppressants at the same time when responding to an emergency.
Like its predecessor, the Titan 6x6 can also maneuver through soft or flooded fields, over steep slopes and uneven ground faster than conventional rigid axle vehicles.