Upper Austria's new weapon against forest fires: the innovative pickup!

Upper Austria's new weapon against forest fires: the innovative pickup!

On April 23, 2025, the official handover of a new multi-purpose vehicle (MZF) will take place in the State Fire Brigade Association of Upper Austria on April 29. This innovative vehicle is based on a Ford Ranger 2024.5 Tremor Pickup and is specially designed for vegetation fire fighting. The MZF combines maximum off -road capacity with the latest technology and is intended to serve as a multi -talent in various use scenarios in order to meet the requirements of the modern fire brigade. More details on the functionalities and technical specifications will be announced on the said day after the base device handover.

The procurement of such base vehicles is carried out by disaster protection. It is important to emphasize that the maintenance costs of the vehicles are the responsibility of the respective communities and fire brigades, but not the acquisition costs. This regulation should guarantee that the financial burdens will be distributed evenly.

efficient vegetation fire fighting

As part of a project to improve the pickup "Fl Karlstadt 50/1", an effective structure was developed. Internet research led to the building instructions of the “WKR-forest fire climate resilience” project. In this context, a change module was developed to euro pallet dimensions, which can simply be loaded with a forklift or by hand.

module equipment and possible uses

The new module has a number of most important features:

• 300 liters of water
• engine pump with a maximum power of 240 l/min at 4 bar
• 30 meters of hose hay pile
• 30 meters D hose with different D fittings
• 2 hose carrier baskets with 3 × 15 meters C-hose
• 20 liters of foam for use as a network agent

In addition, the module is supplemented by tools for tillage to enable effective first fire fighting and re -extinguishing work in rough terrain. The distribution line C can be laid, which means that extinguishing bags can be filled on site. This comprehensive concept will be dealt with in the next exercise, in which the focus is also on the new standard operational rules and the pick-up module.

The progressive development of this technology and operational tactics, as is also promoted by the Karlstadt fire brigade, shows the striving to steadily optimize the vegetation fire fighting. The reporting of [Fireworld] (https://www.fireworld.at/2025/23/oberoesterreich-fuehr- several-purpose-pickup-mit-change module-fuer-die-vegetationbrandbeka rechreuung-ein/) emphasized the overall social responsibility that is hidden behind the integration of such technologies.