Vienna Professional Fire Department Is Now In Operation With Two Electrically Powered Basic Firefighting Vehicles

The City of Vienna - Fire Department and Civil Protection has received two state-of-the-art electric firefighting vehicles. Vienna’s City Councilor for Fire Services - Peter Hanke, Fire Director - Mario Rauch and Chief Sales Officer of Rosenbauer International AG - Andreas Zeller presented the new basic firefighting vehicles (BLF) for the first time at the Landstrasse fire station.

Almost 120 years ago to the day, the Vienna Professional Fire Department put its first electric fire truck into service. This historic electric vehicle, which the Vienna Fire Brigade Museum maintains, is in running condition and has now been presented together with several other vehicles from the current fleet of electric vehicles of the Vienna Professional Fire Brigade.

Rosenbauer’s basic firefighting vehicles (BLF)

Rosenbauer, the manufacturer, has so far delivered 21 units of the new vehicle generation with the type designation RT (Revolutionary Technology) worldwide - two of them to Vienna. This makes the Vienna Professional Fire Department the Austrian innovation leader in the firefighting sector.

The new BLFs are equipped with a high-voltage battery with a capacity of 66 kWh

The new BLFs are equipped with a high-voltage battery with a capacity of 66 kWh. This battery is at the vehicle’s bottom. Two electric motors provide 360 kW of peak electrical drive power.

In order to be able to operate the BLF during longer missions or in the event of a prolonged power outage, it is equipped with a 225 kW Energy Backup System (EBU). In addition, the BLF successfully combines the characteristics of the two current firefighting vehicle types (rescue and tank firefighting vehicle).

Vienna Professional Fire Brigade

Fire Department City Councilor - Peter Hanke emphasizes “Thanks to its high level of professionalism, the Vienna Professional Fire Brigade rightly ranks among the best emergency services in the world. By gradually switching to environmentally friendly vehicles, it is also making a contribution to a climate-neutral Vienna. This is important because the commitment to the safety of the Viennese population also requires constant further development and the use of new technologies.”

It took eight years of development work to get the vehicles ready for series production. 

All-electric RT model series for Vienna Fire Department

“Experience shows that the market launch of a new technology is just as big a challenge as the development work behind it. I am, therefore, more than pleased that today we are able to hand over two vehicles from our all-electric RT model series to the Vienna Professional Fire Department and deliver them to the federal capital,” says Andreas Zeller, the Chief Sales Officer of Rosenbauer International AG.

Andreas Zeller adds, “After Berlin and Basel, with Vienna, we are now represented in the entire D-A-C-H region with at least one RT. Thanks to its redundant energy supply, the RT is a particularly crisis-proof firefighting vehicle and enables virtually emission-free operations on the way to implementing Vienna's 2040 climate targets.”

New approach towards firefighting equipment on vehicles

New approaches are also being taken to the firefighting equipment carried on the vehicle

But it is not only the vehicles themselves that represent a new development; new approaches are also being taken to the firefighting equipment carried on the vehicle. Here, the goal was to replace as many corded devices or those with combustion engines as possible with battery-powered devices.

In this way, the BLFs also serve to subject new products that have reached series-production readiness to a practical test in tough everyday operations.

BLF concept is holistically innovative

Fire Director - Mario Rauch, said “The BLF concept is holistically innovative. The basic idea of those responsible for tactics and technology was to expand the vehicle’s range of applications and make it as universal as possible. I was particularly interested in using new technologies to provide my firefighters with the best technology and the safest tools.”

Mario Rauch adds, “The firefighters are already looking forward to testing the new vehicles, equipment and technologies in their everyday work. The feedback we receive from them is and always has been a key driver for further development and improvement of the vehicles and equipment.”