Fire service
Lanseria International Airport
Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) Service
L
anseria International Airport
is situated north west of
Johannesburg in South Africa’s
Gauteng Province. Fire and
Rescue International met with Chief
Bennie Vorster, who heads up the
airport’s rescue and fire service, and
his crew, to profile the service.
Lanseria International Airport (LIA)
was established in 1974 when two
Chief Bennie Vorster
36 l Volume 3 No. 2
Lanseria International Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) Service’s arsenal
private individuals identified the
need for an airport to the north
west of Johannesburg, South Africa.
When the airport started operations,
a Ford F250 was converted into a fire
engine and manned by a volunteer
crew. The airport was later taken
over jointly by the municipalities of
Krugersdorp, Roodepoort and the
then Transvaal Administration.
The airport fire services, although
managed by the airport, sorted under
the Krugersdorp Fire Department.
By this time, two Unimog fire tenders
and a Toyota Hi Ace ambulance,
with a full time fire crew of 10, made
up Lanseria Airport Rescue and Fire
Fighting Services.
The South African Air Force used Lanseria
Airport as a base for their Impala 4
Squadron as well as 41 Reconnaissance
Squadron from 1979 to 1991.
In 1991, Lanseria was sold to a group
of private investors and became the
only privately owned international
airport in South Africa.
Lanseria International Airport is a
licensed category seven airport for
rescue and fire fighting purposes,
which means that aircraft with a
fuselage length of up to 48,9 metres
may operate at the airport. The airport
category is however upgraded to
category eight on a regular basis
when larger aircraft, with a fuselage
length of up to 60,9 metres make use
of the facility. These include wide
body B-767 and United States of
America Air Force C-17 aircraft.
When the airport category is upgraded
to category eight, the ARFF service
has to increase personnel numbers
to man an additional ARFF vehicle.
Additional off duty fire fighters are also
called in to man the vehicle during
the category eight operations. During
normal category seven operations,
the two major first turn out vehicles are
manned by a four man crew each.
Challenges
Like with any airport ARFF or municipal
fire service for that matter, personnel
numbers are always a concern.
One can imagine the challenge of
responding to an aircraft incident
where more than 200 people are
involved, with a fire crew of 12. It is, of
course, unrealistic to expect airport
 Fire service

authorities to have large numbers

of fire fighters on standby at the
station and it is therefore important to
have sufficient support from external
agencies to act as a back up to the
ARFF first responder role.

Any licensed airport that operates

a scheduled air service is required
by the International Civil Aviation
Organisation (ICAO) to conform to
certain safety and other regulations.
ICAO also stipulates the minimum
number of vehicles, the performance
of the vehicles, extinguishing agents
and equipment required for a
particular category of airport.

Airport rescue and fire fighting
services are continually under
pressure to reduce response times
to aircraft incidents on or in close
proximity to an airport. The objective
of the ARFF service is to achieve
response times of two minutes but not
exceeding three minutes to any part
of the aircraft movement area on
an airport and to discharge at least
50 percent of its extinguishing agent
within this time. To achieve this, ARFFS
must stay abreast of technology and
improved techniques in fire fighting
Lanseria International Airport is a licensed category seven airport
with regard to vehicles, equipment,
training and personnel deployment.
Budget
“The annual budget may vary quite
substantially from year to year since it
depends in what cycle of procurement
of vehicles and equipment we find
ourselves in,” said Chief Vorster. There
may, for instance, be a year where
no major expense with regard to new
vehicles or equipment is required.
The following year may require the
purchase of a new ARFF vehicle, which
can cost up to eight or 10 million Rand.
Personnel and staffing
Lanseria International Airport ARFF
service has a compliment of 30
personnel made up of the ARFFS
manager, three platoon commanders,
one training officer, six senior fire
fighters, an administrative facilitator
and 18 fire fighters. There are currently

Volume 3 No. 2 l 37
 Fire service
The fire training facility allows fire fighters to practise live fire and rescue scenarios
two female fire fighters employed by
LIA ARFFS. These female fire fighters
have proven themselves to be an
asset to the department with one of
them holding the rank of senior fire
fighter. “It is my believe that the single
most important attribute to being a
fire fighter is that your heart must be in
the right place, regardless of gender
or race. Couple that with training and
dedication and you have a top class
fire fighter that can contribute to a
successful team who all have different
talents, stated Chief Vorster.
“I do not believe that any fire chief
will say that he or she has enough
personnel, especially at an airport.
LIA is however fortunate to have a
highly motivated, competent and
dedicated team that has the ability
A 110 seat aircraft is equipped with a smoke generator system
38 l Volume 3 No. 2
to deal with any emergency as first
responders,” added Chief Vorster.
Fire fighters are recruited at different
levels of competency depending on
the vacancy. There is a process in place
where a post will be advertised internally
if there is a possibility of promotion. The
basic requirements will however be
National Fire Protection Association
(NFPA) Fire Fighter 1, basic life support
ambulance course (BAC) and registered
at the Health Professions Council of
South Africa (HPCSA) and a valid
code E driver’s license. An assessment
procedure is in place where candidates
are subjected to a fitness test based
on NFPA standards, hearing and visual
tests and psychometric tests. “We also
employ learner fire fighters from time to
time who will undergo an 18-month
apprenticeship before being promoted
to fire fighter,” said Chief Vorster.
Training
LIA has an Airport Training Academy
that specialises in various aspects
of aviation related training. Besides
the obvious fire fighter training that
is required to be a fire fighter, an
airport fire fighter has to complete
various other courses to be classed as
a competent airport fire fighter.
Examples of the courses required by
LIA ARFFS are:
- Aircraft rescue and fire fighting
course
- Airside driver/operator
- Aircraft technical overview and
construction course
- Dangerous goods course
- Radio license
- Aircraft marshalling
- Communicable disease
management course
- Airport disaster management
course. Senior fire fighters and officers.
- Supervisory course. Senior fire
fighters.
- Management course. Officers.
The fire training facility at Lanseria
International Airport allows fire
fighters to practise live fire and
rescue scenarios. The aircraft training
rig can simulate high pressure wheel
assembly and engine fuel fires. The
self-contained breathing apparatus
(SCBA) facility simulates multi storey
structural fires and rescues. A 110 seat
aircraft is equipped with a smoke
generator system that can simulate
smoke in the cockpit, galley, toilets or
entire aircraft for search and rescue
and aircraft ventilation training.
The South African Civil Aviation Authority
(SACAA) regulations require that fire
fighters be tested for competency of
core fire fighting functions every 90
days. All fire fighter training records are
audited annually by the SACAA.
Operations
The airport fire station is currently
located in an aircraft hangar that was
converted to house the ARFF vehicles,
personnel and equipment. Additional
mobile units provide office space.
The original fire station buildings had
to make way for the extension to the
terminal building. The present facilities
 Fire service

The engine company’s MAN 480 6x6 carries 8 000lt water, LIA’s rescue company MAN 464 6x6 also carries 8 000lt
500lt 3% AFFF and 150kg DCP. Both the rescue and engine water, 500lt 3% AFFF and 150kg DCP
apparatus were built by Confeco

The Toyota Land Cruiser 4x4 was built by Tempest Fire/Fire The Mercedes Unimog 4x4 is a 1981 model; carries 1 000lt
Raiders and carries 680lt premix and 50kg DCP water, 50kg DCP and responds to grass fires

are not ideal but a new fire station will
be completed by July 2015.
LIA ARFFS is at a constant state of
readiness to respond to any incident or
emergency that may occur on or in the
vicinity of the airport. The ARFF service
is required by the SACAA and ICAO to
respond to aircraft accidents within a
10 kilometre radius of the airport.
Part of the licensing conditions of
the airport is that it must have a
SACAA-approved and tested airport
emergency response plan (AEMS).
“This is basically the airport disaster
plan and must define the functions, in
detail, of all the relevant role players
that will be required to deal with and
manage a large aircraft accident
or incident,” said Chief Vorster. Full
scale emergency exercises must be
held every two years with desk top
exercises held in the alternating years.
Incidents
Since LIA is located on the North West
border of the City of Johannesburg, the
ARFF service responds to motor vehicle
accidents and structural fires in close
proximity to the airport. This, however,
is only the case when crew strengths
allow it. “We are also neighbours to
a large informal settlement and deal
with a lot of medical and trauma
calls. Our fire fighters also work at our
neighbouring City of Johannesburg
fire stations from time to time; as do
their fire fighters spend a shift at the
airport. This allows the fire fighters to
get to know one another and to know
how the other vehicles, equipment
and stations work. This is beneficial to
both departments since these stations
are our first responding back up,
continued Chief Vorster.
The LIA ARFF service responds to a
wide variety of incidents but the most
common are aircraft that declare
inflight emergencies ie technical
or flight control problems and daily
medical emergencies.
The ARFF service responds to various
emergencies on a daily basis. The fire
crew is divided in two response teams,
an engine company that responds
to all fire related emergencies and
a rescue company that responds to
rescue and medical related incidents.
In the event of an aircraft accident,
the engine company crew will
concentrate on external fire fighting
operations and keeping escape routes
clear of fire and the rescue company
crew will be concentrating on internal
rescue and fire fighting operations.
Lanseria International Airport has an
enviable safety record with few major
incidents occurring. The aviation
industry is highly regulated and major
incidents at airports worldwide are
not common with the exception of
large aircraft accidents or terrorist
activities that occur from time to
time. South Africa has not had any
major aircraft accidents at any of its
airports where there was major loss of
life in recent years.
“The last noteworthy incident at LIA
occurred in February 2014 when a

Volume 3 No. 2 l 39
 Fire service
LIA’s ambulance was built on a Hyundai H1 chassis by Bustruck
King Air crashed at the airport resulting
in three fatalities. One of the causes
of the accident can be attributed to
poor weather conditions at the time,”
said Chief Vorster.
Risk profile
An airport and its operations is by
definition a high risk area. “Consider
the following, you have large numbers
of people of different nationalities
and backgrounds, place them in
aircraft, which basically is a tube
with large fuel tanks attached, let it
travel at very high speed on three
sets of wheels, down a short piece of
flat road and hope it will fly. Do this a
couple of hundred times a day and
you have risk,” states Chief Vorster.
LIA has a big difference in aircraft
type that operates at the airport with
a number of flight schools. This mix of
large and small, fast and slow and
experienced and unexperienced
pilots and aircraft create a risk.
The high risk areas are the aircraft
movement areas, the terminal
building and the bulk fuel installation
that has approximately one million
litres of fuel at any one time.
Aircraft making use of LIA vary greatly
in type and size and range from two
seat trainer aircraft to large Airbus and
Boeing aircraft carrying hundreds of
passengers. LIA handle, on average,
350 to 400 aircraft movements per
day and 983 scheduled flights a
month between Kulula and Mango
40 l Volume 3 No. 2
flying Boeing 737 – 800 type aircraft.
Since Kulula started scheduled flight
operations at LIA in 2005, the airport
risk profile changed considerably.
Scheduled operations continue to
increase and that require constant
monitoring, changing and upgrading
of systems and procedures within the
ARFF service organisation as well as
the airport as a whole.
Mass-casualty preparedness
The ARFF service may be required
to deal with other non-aircraft
related emergencies at the airport.
These may include bomb threats,
biological threats, communicable
disease threats and unlawful
acts against an aircraft and its
passengers. How to deal with these
Lizl Potgieter and Trevor Broodryk.in LIA’s control room
emergencies are also contained in
the AEMS. Procedures exist for the
response to any of these incidents.
Should there be any large hazmat,
biological or communicable disease
incident, the ARFF service will
respond and contain as required and
specialist units will be called in to deal
with and manage the incident in the
appropriate manner. These agencies
may be private or state.
Equipment
ARFF vehicles are unique by design
and performance and are normally
heavy all-wheel drive vehicles that
need to carry all its extinguishing
agent with it to an aircraft incident or
accident. There is no second chance
and extinguishing agents have to
be applied in a quick and efficient
manner to gain control of any fire
situation. The Toyota Land Cruiser
is a rapid intervention vehicle (RIV)
and is designed to reach an aircraft
rapidly and extinguish or contain any
fire in its inception stage while the
heavy equipment is on its way. The
vehicle is also equipped to respond
to off airport incidents and to deal
with rescue situations such as motor
vehicle accidents.
Other vehicles in the arsenal include:
• 1 x MAN 464 6x6 - Rescue company.
2005 model. 8 000lt water. 500lt 3%
AFFF. 150kg DCP. First response vehicle.
• 1 x MAN 480 6x6 - Engine company.
2009 model. 8 000lt water. 500lt 3%
AFFF. 150kg DCP. First response vehicle.
• 1 x Toyota Land Cruiser 4x4 - Engine
company. 2013 model. 680lt
premix. 50kg DCP. First response
vehicle.
• 1 x Mercedes Unimog 4x4 - Engine
company. 1981 model. 1 000lt
water. 50kg DCP. Grass fire
response only.
• 1 x Nissan 4x4 - Rescue company.
1996 model. Medical response.
• 1 x Hyundai H1 - Rescue company.
2011 model. Ambulance.
• 1 x Toyota Venture - General
purpose vehicle.
LIA ARFFS is in the process of procuring
a water tanker. This vehicle will have
an 8 000lt water capacity with an
additional 500lt AFFF capacity and
will serve as an additional water
supply to the two MAN first response
vehicles. When new vehicles are
procured, cognisance is taken of
new technology with regard to
vehicle design and performance and
equipment availability.
Ultimate ARFF apparatus
When asked about an ultimate
apparatus with no budget limitations,
Chief Vorster answered, “No budget
limitations, is there such a thing? You
can buy the ultimate custom ARFF
vehicle in the form of a Colet Jaguar.
These are probably the best custom
build ARFF vehicles that you can get.
18 000lt water, 1 600 horse power
on the most advanced custom
built chassis, transmission and brake
systems available.”
Interagency involvement
All airports are required by the
SACAA to have mutual aid
agreements with the surrounding
local authority fire services as well
as medical services and other
agencies. Lanseria International
Airport has the following services
that they can call on in the event of
a large incident on the airport or in
its vicinity:
• City of Johannesburg Fire
Department
• West Rand District Municipality EMS
• Tshwane EMS
• Gauteng Provincial Emergency
Medical Services
• Net Care 911
• ER 24
• For Life Hospital Four Ways
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