Litvínov, August 1, 2019 – Unipetrol’s Fire and Rescue Service in Litvínov has expanded its fleet to include two new Scania vehicles with water/foam carriers. The total investment amounted to CZK 18.5 million. Corporate firefighters can now use three vehicles for fire extinguishing with water and foam and three combined vehicles which also include powder. They go out twice a day on average. Last year, they were called to 660 incidents, assistances and false alarms within and outside the chemical park with more than 6,000 employees.
“Following the August 2015 emergency, we decided to renew and expand our fleet and technical means. Today we have six vehicles – three combined vehicles for extinguishing with water, foam or powder and three fire engines with water/foam carriers. The acquisition of two new vehicles has improved our flexibility at times when we need to go out to multiple assistances, incidents or if one of the vehicles undergoes a bench check or repair,” says Petr Králert, chief of Unipetrol’s Fire and Rescue Service.
With the new fire engines, firefighters can attend fires or leaks of chemical substances, assist in the maintenance of production unit technologies and respond to any emergency outside the premises as part of the Fire Alarm Plan of the Ústí Region or the Integrated Rescue System. Unipetrol’s Fire and Rescue Service has 74 employees, including 63 firefighters working in three 24-hour shifts, seven operations officers rotating in the operations centre and four morning-shift employees.
“Last year, we responded to 40 fires, half of which was located outside the chemical site. Almost 50 emergency incidents regarded the rescue of people. If we add technical interventions and assistances in production operations, firefighter training and false alarms, we responded to 660 emergency incidents last year. That means two assignments on average per day,” Petr Králert enumerates.
When responding outside the chemical site, Unipetrol’s corporate firefighters reacted mainly to fire incidents and car accidents, especially on Road I/27 between Litvínov and Most. “We are typically called to fires in Litvínov or Janov, fires at neighbouring landfill sites or car accidents close to the production premises when we respond outside the site. In such cases, we react to the calls of the Regional Operations and Information Centre of the Fire and Rescue Service of the Ústí Region. We cooperate with the regional fire and rescue service units and with voluntary firefighters,” Petr Králert concludes.
Fire engine specifications:
Two new fire trucks using water and foam have a tank with water capacity of 6,000 litres and 4,000 litres of foam. The pump output is 7,000 L/min at 10 bar pressure and three-metre suction depth. These are heavy-class vehicles with specific equipment tailored for chemical industry interventions. The vehicles have an automatic gearbox with a manual gear shift option. They have an all-wheel drive which makes them suitable for interventions outside paved surfaces in the vicinity of the site and in pipeline facilities. They have a CI four-stroke six-cylinder engine with fluid cooling and an output of 358 kW with a torque of 2,400 Nm. The vehicles are 9.5 m long and 3.3 m high. The total weight is 27.5 tonnes and the maximum speed is 110 km/h. Both vehicles are intended for a crew with a driver, firefighter and commander.
The body of both vehicles contains technical means for extinguishing with water or heavy or medium-expansion foam and technical means for water replenishing. The equipment also includes breathing apparatuses and first-aid kits. Each body has a remotely controlled monitor with an output of up to 8,000 L/min; the cabin bumper contains another monitor with an output of up to 2,000 L/min. The roof monitor is controlled from a mobile panel in the rear part of the body; the front bumper monitor is controlled directly from the cabin. The equipment also includes a six-metre battery-charged LED telescopic light mast.
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The Unipetrol Group is the largest refinery and petrochemical company in the Czech Republic. It focuses primarily on crude oil processing, distribution and sale of fuel and petrochemical products — particularly plastics and fertilisers. In all these fields, the group is a key player on both the Czech and Central European market. The Unipetrol Group includes refineries and production plants in Litvínov and Kralupy nad Vltavou, Paramo with the Mogul brand in Pardubice and Kolín, Spolana in Neratovice, and two research centres in Litvínov and Brno. Unipetrol also owns the Benzina network of petrol stations with 413 stations, which is the largest chain in the Czech Republic. Unipetrol is one of the largest companies in the Czech Republic in terms of turnover. The group created revenue of over CZK 130 billion last year and employs more than 4800 people. In 2005, Unipetrol became part of the PKN Orlen Group, the largest crude oil processor in Central Europe.