Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting in Italy

The world of aviation, both civil and military, has seen an ever-increasing level of safety. Statistical studies considering the last 50 years show a well-established trend toward fewer accidents and fatalities per departures. In the last 10 years, for every million scheduled commercial flights worldwide, more than 999,998 came to a happy landing. However, aircraft accidents do happen, most of them within few miles from an airport.

When an aircraft crashes, the actions taken in the first few minutes can often make the difference between a non-fatal incident and a major disaster. To ensure a high survival rate, passengers in crashed airliners and crews of military jets on fire must be rescued within minutes.
Regulations issued by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) require the presence of an adequate Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting service at every airport serving commercial flights and most Air Forces have similar requirements for military airfields.

The mission assigned to ARFF crews is quite clear: reach the crash site in the shortest time, provide survivable conditions to endangered people, perform rescue and preserve property. This apparently simple task requires high-quality training, accurate planning and specialized equipment.

This website presents ARFF activities in Italy, at civil and military airfields.

Leonardo Ferrero
aircraftfire@yahoo.it

About the author

I am a student in Aerospace Engineering at Politecnico di Torino. For years I have been collecting information about Flight Safety. In particular, I am interested in Aircraft Accident Investigation and Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting. My personal library includes about 100 titles on these subjects. As a free-lance consultant, I took part in an award-winning project for an ARFF training structure at "Friuli - Venezia Giulia" Int'l Apt. Since May 2000 I am a member of the International Aviation Fire Protection Association (IAFPA). I have contibuted to the Aviation Fire Journal, an official medium of communication of the IAFPA. Please contact me if you have any comment or suggestion. Any additional information would also be welcome.

Photo credit

The photos on these pages have been taken by Enrico Fratnik and myself (unless otherwise stated). They are NOT for free download. Please contact me in you are interested in any picture.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the following individuals, institutions and private companies for their help:

CS Roberto Facchinetti and the D shift (Distaccamento Aeroportuale VVF- Ronchi dei Legionari)
M.llo Cosimo Cotugno (Nucleo Aerosoccorso 2� Stormo - Aeronautica Militare Italiana)

Corpo Nazionale dei Vigili del Fuoco
Rivista "Sicurezza del Volo" (Ispettorato Sicurezza del Volo - Aeronautica Militare Italiana)

Edizioni Monografie, Roma
Fresia S.p.A., Millesimo (SV)
Rampini Carlo s.r.l., Passignano sul Trasimeno (PG)

Disclaimer

The views expressed in these pages are those of the author and do not purport to reflect the position of any organization. The author acknowledges that certain words, such as model names and designations, mentioned herein are the property of the trademark holder. He uses them for identification purposes only.