Vehicle for mechanical extinguishing of forest fires

During the summer heat and dry weather, fires in open spaces are a frequent occurrence, especially in forests and thickets that are not cultivated and where there are no grazing livestock.

And when dry grass, thickets and forest catch fire, it is difficult to put out the resulting fire.

For extinguishing, various means are used that put out the fire by cooling, suffocating or slowing down the burning. Fire is extinguished with solid particles of powder, earth or sand, liquids such as water and foam, and gases such as carbon dioxide or water vapor.

Fires in open spaces are most often extinguished with water, which is brought to forests and thickets the fastest and easiest by fire engines, or in the case of larger fires by airplanes. If the fire is small and there is no wind, the fire can be extinguished with shovels, by throwing earth on the fire, or hitting the flames with a branch.

Techniques developed for clearing minefields could be very useful for firefighting. For this purpose, vehicles have been developed that have a roller in front of them that has a large number of iron pistons on chains. The roller rotates quickly and thus the pistons hit the ground, which activates the mines in front of the vehicle. Another similar technique is used to clear canals and areas around roads with a mechanical arm that has a rotary mower on it that cuts weeds, bushes and thinner trees.

An open fire in fields, thickets and forests could be put out in a similar way. A rotating wheel could be placed on the mechanical arm, which has a large number of short chains on the end of which there is a small piston. By rotating this wheel, the pistons hit the ground and tear up small plants, soil and stones that they throw towards the flames. In this way, the fire is extinguished and the area around the road is cleared by vehicles with this type of mechanical arm.

Such a mechanical arm with a rotating wheel for extinguishing fires could be mounted on fire trucks, or on work machines such as excavators and tractors.

In addition to extinguishing an open fire, a vehicle with such a mechanical arm could be used to clean the terrain around roads, forest paths and roads, which would reduce the risk of spreading future fires as a preventive measure.