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BR-RU – Santa Maria recebe Carro de Bombeiros URAL Link
The Editor
Nelson Düring
DefesaNet Chief Editor
Data and Images – A RAZÃO News
In Santa Maria a city in south Brazil still traumatized by the fire at the KISS nightclub two years ago, killing 242 people and leaving other 680 injured, the 4th Regional Command of the Rio Grande do Sul’s State Brigada Militar, 4th Regional Command, Fire Brigade, now has an extraordinary new asset.
An AC-6,6-40 firefighting truck mounted on a URAL 5557-1152-40 Russian-made chassi has been transferred to the firefighting unit. The system to be used by the Brazilian firefighters is made by Fire Group Prioritet Company, also from Russia.
The truck keys were handed over to Santa Maria’s mayor Cezar Schirmer (PMDB) by ROSTEC (Russian Technologies) representative and commercial chief officer of the Russian Embassy in Brazil, Alexey Garin. At the occasion, Father Padre Antonio Bonini, from the Metropolitan Cathedral of Santa Maria, performed a ceremony to bless the new vehicle. Besides the key-handing ceremony, there was also a demonstration of the truck in action. The maneuvers took place at the Santa Maria’s Regional Firefighters Command headquarters.
The vehicle transfer to the city was completely free. The only expense were the import taxes (16.000 Reais total around U$ 8.000) funded by the Refurbishing Funds maintained for the Fire Brigade. In case any maintenance is needed, services will be provided by URAL truck factory. All negotiations were conducted by Santa Maria’s City Hall. The transfer time lasts one year and may be extended for another 12 months. Mayor Schirmer showed his joy in helping to provide more modern and adequate work conditions for firefighters to manage incidents like the one that led to the nightclub tragedy back in 2013.
The fire engine is furnished with modern equipment and completely different from all other Fire Brigade trucks in town. It will be used in fire-fighting missions and other emergency calls both in urban environment and in the country area.
According to Ricardo Marques, Brazilian representative of Russian company Tamasul, this is the first time negotiations managed to bring this kind of vehicle to Brazil. “It took a lot of hard work, and it is a great pleasure to put [this truck] at the service of Santa Maria’s Fire Brigade. I hope it answers the city’s demands”. It was Marques’ idea to bring the URAL truck – he is also a representative for, Russia’s State-run defense exports company.
He also says the, for years, he’s put his efforts into bringing the URAL 5557-1152-40 to Brazil, but with no results until now. After losing three relatives in KISS fire incident, Marques got in touch with Mayor Cezar Schirmer in order to ask support to his idea.
Lieutenant-Colonel Luiz Marcelo Gonçalves Maya, commander of the 4th Regional Fire Brigade Command, says that the new truck is a milestone in the corporation’s history in the city and in the estate. “This grand vehicle, with exceptional capabilities, has many features that doesn’t exist in Brazilian trucks”.
The main feature is that the URAL can perform in both urban and country areas easily. “Our current vehicles can’t reach the countryside with such efficiency”, says Lieutenant-Colonel Maya. Due to bureaucratic issues, the truck was retained for a year at the port in the city of Rio Grande (RS). “But now, this vehicle gives us the possibility to fight forest fires with water, which we were unable to do before”, explains Maya.
The truck’s water reservoir holds up to 5.000 liters. “This water tank can be filled in three minutes, which gives us more speed when it comes to firefighting”, says the commander. Also, the URAL has a 360 liters foam-generating reservoir. “Some materials, such as petroleum products and liquid fuels, are better handled with foam instead of water”, Maya explained.
The transferred truck is expected to stay in Santa Maria until April 2016, and it still waits for traffic control authorities to allow its use by the Fire Brigade.
Military authorities from the Santa Maria Garrison, the Army and Santa Maria’s Air Force Base also were present during the URAL tests.
Main Features:
Fire Truck Model provided by: Fire Group Prioritet Company
Chassis: URAL 5557-1152-40
Wheel Arrangement 6×6
Cabin: 6 People
Total weight: 16.750 kg
Engine: Euro 4
Motos Displacement: 11,15 l
Power: 230 HP
Water reservoir: 5.000 l
Foam reservoir: 360 l Foam Generator
Water spray reach – Up to 60 meters
