China's Norinco Develops Artillery Guns to Combat Wild Fires

Chinese company Norinco has developed a new modified artillery gun with fire-extinguishing capabilities that was used to put-off fire engulfing a mountain in Guojiaping village, Shanxi province, on Monday.

Eight of these long-range guns were deployed at the request of provincial authorities to help quench the fire that had raged on the nearby mountain for several days, China Daily reported today.

The guns were used launch shells containing fire-extinguishing agents onto the hill. With their assistance, firefighters were able to put out the blaze by afternoon, the State-owned defense conglomerate said Wednesday.

According to Norinco, the artillery gun has a range of 8 kilometers and each of its shells can scatter dry extinguishing agents over about 20 square meters. The gun features high mobility and accuracy, and is suitable for suppressing big fires, it said.

The company had also developed fire-fighting tanks to put off raging infernos, and to carry out search and rescue operations since the tanks can get closer to the scene than the fire engine. The water cannon on these vehicles can spray water up to 65 meters.

With the chassis and armor of a combat tank, the vehicles can protect crew members from fire, explosions and building collapses, and can cross half-meter-high obstacles or 2-meter-wide trenches. They have automatic spray devices and fireproof coatings that can keep scorching heat out of the vehicles' interiors.

Using 520-horsepower diesel engines and equipped with hydraulic devices, the tanks can clear away obstacles weighing up to 15 metric tons. Their metal tracks allow them to operate on slopes, in rocky terrain and in the debris of collapsed buildings.

Apart from China, two other countries have modified their tanks into fire-fighting vehicles- Russia and Germany.