The Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting Division of the City of Kansas City, Mo., Fire Department currently has a staff of 26 people. The ARFF Division has an administrative battalion chief, a division training officer, and 24 uniformed personnel on three 24-hour shifts. ARFF personnel are trained to extinguish the large flammable liquid fires and respond to the other unique hazards found in this specialized firefighting environment. Their mission is to make entry into a stricken aircraft, extinguish the fire, if any and rescue passengers and crew. Funding for the ARFF Division comes largely from the Kansas City, Mo., Aviation Department.

The ARFF Division is housed at Fire Station Number 5, located out on the taxiways of Kansas City International Airport. Currently, the ARFF Division is operating four frontline apparatus:

• The Rapid Intervention Vehicle (Rescue 93) must be capable of reaching any position on the airfield and flow-extinguishing agent within 3 minutes of the initial alarm. This vehicle, an Oshkosh Striker T1500, weighs 30-tons and can go from zero to 50 miles per hour in 25 seconds. Carrying 1,500 gallons of water, 200 gallons of foam and 500 pounds of Purple K (dry chemical extinguishing agent) it also mounts a Snozzle. This is an elevated boom capable of penetrating the fuselage of an aircraft and extinguishing the fires within.

• The two large capacity vehicles each weigh more than 80,000 pounds and must reach their destination in less than 4 minutes. These vehicles are Emergency One Titan II High Performance Rescue trucks which each carry 3,000 gallons of water, 400 gallons of foam and 500 pounds of Purple K. They are designated as Rescue 91 and 92. Rescue 91 is a 6 x 6 all wheel drive with a special variable height nozzle, while Rescue 92 is an 8 x 8 all wheel drive vehicle mounting an elevated waterway (Snozzle) like the one found on Rescue 93.

• The ARFF Division also provides crash rescue services to Wheeler Airport (located downtown). This airport is protected by an Oshkosh P-19 apparatus carrying 1,000 gallons of water, 200 gallons of foam, and 500 pounds of Purple K dry chemical fire suppression agent. This apparatus can be manned, as air traffic dictates, by ARFF trained KCFD personnel assigned to pumper companies 8, 9 and 25 (all of which are located downtown).