Sicily is one of the regions in Italy that suffer the most from forest and vegetation fires every year. An average of 1000 large-scale operations are carried out during the summer month, many of them last for days and are carried out both from the air and from the ground.
The Italian Civil Defense has equipped the fire departments of this most affected forest fire region with 50 all-terrain vehicles manufactured by the Italian body manufacturer Carrozzeria B.M. and fitted with One Seven compressed air foam systems. The vehicle configurations were coordinated in close cooperation with the Italian One Seven representative Piemme & Matacena and Schmitz One Seven in Germany and adapted to the operational tactics of the local fire departments.
The pick-up bodies, based on a Mitsubishi 4x4 chassis, have a double cab and an open loading area on which a Schmitz One Seven OS-800-T compressed air foam system and a 300-liter water tank are installed. The self-powered extinguishing system can generate up to 800 l/min of compressed air foam.
Biodegradable One Seven Class A foam concentrate with a proportioning rate of only 0.3 % is used to generate the foam.
Two hose reels mounted on the system, each with 45 meters of S 25 hose, allowing the simultaneous use of two nozzles which is particularly suitable for extinguishing ground fires.
