Monday, January 28, 2013

URU - 2012 - #031 - SERIE - NATIONAL FIRE BRIGADE


Uruguay - 2012 - 125 Years of the National Fire Brigade


Options:

SERIE --- 4,40 EUR
STAMP 1 --- 2,60 EUR
STAMP 2 --- 2,60 EUR
STAMP 3 --- 2,60 EUR
STAMP 4 --- 2,60 EUR
SE-TENANT REGULAR --- 4,60 EUR
SE-TENANT CENTER COLUMN --- 6,90 EUR
SE-TENANT CENTER ROW --- 6,90 EUR
SE-TENANT CENTER OF BLOCK --- 10,30 EUR
BLOCK --- 16,00 EUR
FDC not Sent --- 5,60 EUR
FDC Sent on First Day (2 Covers) --- 16,00 EUR
COVER Sent on First Day (2 Covers) --- 12,00 EUR

If you are interested in any of this items, or any other items from Uruguay, just make a donation including your e-mail in the description.

I will contact you as soon I receive your donation, we agree on which items do you need, and I will discount the donation done to the amount of your purchase.



Issue information:

Country: Uruguay
Date: October 26th, 2012
Printed: 15.000 copies of each one

Stamp Shape and Size: All Rectangular [39 mm. x 27 mm.]
Perforation: Circular
Gum: Water Activated

Block Configuration: 4 series [2 x 2], 16 stamps [4 x 4]
[ [STAMP 1, STAMP 2, STAMP 1, STAMP 2]
[STAMP 3, STAMP 4, STAMP 3, STAMP 4]
[ [STAMP 1, STAMP 2, STAMP 1, STAMP 2]
[STAMP 3, STAMP 4, STAMP 3, STAMP 4] ]
Block Shape and Size: Rectangular [210 mm. x 156 mm.]

FDC Type: Normal
FDC not sent Shape and Size: Rectangular [235 mm. x 105 mm.]
FDC sent on issue day Shape and Size: 4 x Rectangular [165 mm. x 105 mm.]
Cover Shape and Size: 4 x Rectangular [239 mm. x 159 mm.]

Catalogue information:

Michel: No Data Available
Ivert: No Data Available
Scott: No Data Available
Stanley & Gibbons: No Data Available

Topics:

Issue:

This serie of 4 stamps it was issued to commemorate the 125 Years of the creation of the National Fire Brigade.

It was issued just one day before his birthday, as the Fire Brigade was founded on October 27th of 1887, by the law that promulgate it creation.

On April 14, 1888, firefighters move into the old "Cuartel de Serenos" that the headquarters of Watchmen, on the street today named Paraguay, at number 268. On that day was appointed as First Fire Brigade Chief, Don Pablo Bañales.

In 1921 was created the Fire Brigade in Paysandú, and later in Salto on 1924.

In 1924 also, it was approved the decree authorizing the start of construction for the actual building of the Central Fire Headquarters, and In 1930, during the celebrations of the centenary of the Constitution, it was inaugurated, and that is because it is known as "Cuartel Centenario", that means "Centennial Headquarter".

Later, in 1942 were inaugurated the fire brigades of the cities of "Durazno", "Rivera", and "Rocha", then the ones of "Florida", "San José", and "Treinta y Tres", in 1943, and finally in 1944 the brigades of "Artigas", "Tacuarembó", and "Trinidad".

The first fire that attended the newly opened Fire Brigade took place on May 6, 1888 at the Mill "San Luis" located in the conjunction of streets "Agraciada" and "Nicaragua", that was completely destroyed. In this fire it was a landslide that threatened the life of Colonel Bañales and his son Pablo Bañales, 16 years old, who worked with his father in that incident.

The serie is presented with it four stamps in se-tenant in a block that repeats the same pattern in two rows by two columns of complete series. This configuration produces four regular se-tenant series, or also it could produce, a pair of two new se-tenant configuration, the ones that resulst from selecting the two center rows, or the two center columns. Finally, a last se-tenant configuration is obtained by extracting the intersection of the two center rows and the two center of columns of the block.

In all the stamps it is shown the logotype of the Uruguayan Fire Brigade that is composed by two axes crossed, with a fireman helmet between them, and all this set surrounded by a laurel crown and a ribbon.

Also, in the four stamps a different firemen equipment is shown, each one suitable with the type of task that each stamp shows. The tasks chosen for the serie were: Building Fire, Forest Fire, Building Rescue, and Refinery Fire.


Stamp 1:

The first stamp is about Building Fire, and to ilustrate this kind of fire, it takes the oportunity to show the "Cuartel Centenario", already mentioned in the description of the serie, that is the main headquarter of the fire brigade of Uruguay, and it is located in downtown of it capital city Montevideo.

The current Centennial Fire Headquarters, inaugurated in 1930, is the ultimate expression of military use has been given to this space.

Formerly, worked here the "Cuartel de la plaza Artola", a barrack named in this way because the actual square that is in front the "Cuartel Centenario" was named "Plaza Artola", and not "Plaza de los treinta y tres" as is named nowadays. In 1877, this barrack suffered the explosion of the arsenal that resides in it, and then was almost demolished when bombarded on July 4, 1898, in an attempt to overthrow the revolutionary President Lindolfo Slopes.

The Fire Station project, which corresponds to the architect Colonel Alfredo R. Campos, and it architecture design is the kind of closed plant barracks, instead of many isolatied wards.

The main entrance is housed in the great tower which stands 35 meters and it is placed on the corner of strets "Colonia" and "Minas".

The building harmonizes with it function and the site of the city where it was erected, in front of the spacious and traditional square "Plaza de los treinta y tres", that honour the liberators of Uruguay.

Then, about the firemen equipment that is shown in this stamp, and that is the one useful for building fires, many items could be spot, the most particular one is the head mask, that is connected with an oxigen tube that is attached to the fireman back and for this reason not shown in the picture, and also the flashlight in his helmet, and the reflecting stripes of his clothes. All this characteristics of it equipment, designed to mitigate the problems of smoke and darkness, that building fires present.


Stamp 2:

The second stamp put in focus the topic of forest fire, and for this reason it shows some trees or bushes of a forest burning, and a fireman working in that fire.

As in all the stamps, the design of the stamps is completed with the firemen equipment for that kind of fire.

This equipment is reasonably quite lighter in compared with the other, and it includes only a helmet and safety googles for protection, and shovel, and sheath knife to work in the field.

A wildfire is an uncontrolled fire in an area of combustible vegetation that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area. Other names such as brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, peat fire, vegetation fire, and veldfire may be used to describe the same phenomenon depending on the type of vegetation being burned.

A wildfire differs from other fires by its extensive size, the speed at which it can spread out from its original source, its potential to change direction unexpectedly, and its ability to jump gaps such as roads, rivers and fire breaks.

Wildfires are characterized in terms of the cause of ignition, their physical properties such as speed of propagation, the combustible material present, and the effect of weather on the fire.

Wildfires occur on every continent except Antarctica. Wildfires are a common occurrence in Australia especially during the long hot summers usually experienced in the southern regions such as Victoria, Australia.

Fossil records and human history contain accounts of wildfires, as wildfires can occur in periodic intervals. Wildfires can cause extensive damage, both to property and human life, but they also have various beneficial effects on wilderness areas. Some plant species depend on the effects of fire for growth and reproduction, although large wildfires may also have negative ecological effects.


Stamp 3:

The third stamp talks about Building Rescues, and to ilustrate this type of service, it shows a Bronto Skylift F68HLA, the High Level Articulated truck that represents the ultimate in high rise rescue and fire fighting capability.

Bronto Skylift is a finnish company created in 1972, that is the global market leader in truck mounted hydraulic platforms. The company designs, manufactures, sells and services platforms meant for rescue and fire fighting as well as for any construction work.

The entire product range of Bronto Skylift includes appr. 50 models between 23 to 112 meters working height, but the advanced modularity allows countless client-specific variations.

This particular model of Bronto Skylift F68HLA is set in a Mercedes Benz Truck.

Mercedes-Benz is a multinational division of the German manufacturer Daimler AG founded in 1886, and it brand is used for luxury automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

The name first appeared in 1926 under Daimler-Benz but traces its origins to Daimler's 1901 Mercedes and to Karl Benz's 1886 Benz Patent Motorwagen, widely regarded as the first automobile.

The last thing about this fire brigade truck is that it could be suitable not only for collections related with transport, or motorized vehicles, that also could useful for collection related with hydraulic engineering and physics, energy, and fluids.

Then, about the fireman equipment, it is similar to the one of Building Fires, although not so oriented to the problems of smoke and poor visibility. This result in a lighter equipment, with helmet, googles, and protective earmufs. And the tool selected was the axe, suitable for break doors and other obstacles.


Stamp 4:

The last stamp of the serie, tackles, probably the most dangerous fire that a fireman could face, that is the fire in a refinery, and shows a fireman in action, trying to low down the temperature of a burning refinery, with a high-pressure hose.

An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into more useful products such as petroleum naphtha, gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt base, heating oil, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas.

Oil refineries are typically large, sprawling industrial complexes with extensive piping running throughout, carrying streams of fluids between large chemical processing units. In many ways, oil refineries use much of the technology of, and can be thought of, as types of chemical plants. The crude oil feedstock has typically been processed by an oil production plant. There is usually an oil depot (tank farm) at or near an oil refinery for the storage of incoming crude oil feedstock as well as bulk liquid products.

An oil refinery is considered an essential part of the downstream side of the petroleum industry.

The first oil refinery in the world was built in 1851 at Bathgate, Scotland, by Scottish chemist James Young shortly followed by Ignacy Łukasiewicz near Jasło, Poland from 1854 to 1856, but they were initially small as there was no real demand for refined fuel. As Łukasiewicz's kerosene lamp gained popularity, the refining industry grew in the area.

The world's first large refinery opened at Ploiești, Romania, in 1856-1857, with United States investment. After being taken over by Nazi Germany, the Ploiești refineries were bombed in Operation Tidal Wave by the Allies during the Oil Campaign of World War II.

Another early large refinery is Oljeön, Sweden (1875) (Swedish name means The Petroleum Isle), now preserved as a museum near Engelsberg Ironworks, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and part of the Ekomuseum Bergslagen.

At one point, the refinery in Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia owned by Saudi Aramco was claimed to be the largest oil refinery in the world. For most of the 20th century, the largest refinery was the Abadan Refinery in Iran. This refinery suffered extensive damage during the Iran-Iraq war. The world's largest refinery complex is the Jamnagar Refinery Complex, consisting of two refineries side by side operated by Reliance Industries Limited in Jamnagar, India with a combined production capacity of 1,240,000 barrels per day (197,000 m3/d) (J-1 660,000 bbl/d (105,000 m3/d), J-2 580,000 bbl/d (92,000 m3/d). PDVSA's Paraguana refinery complex in Venezuela with a capacity of 956,000 bbl/d (152,000 m3/d) and SK Energy's Ulsan in South Korea with 840,000 bbl/d (134,000 m3/d) are the second and third largest, respectively.

As in all the stamps of this serie, the design is completed with the equipment used for this kind of fire, and in this case, is a full body protection with a special material with the purpose of isolate the body from the tremendous hot temperature that occurs in this kind of events.

Finally, some items that also appear in the stamp, are water, fire, and a ladder.


Block:

The design of the block did not add any new features, as it only includes helmets as the icon used to show the colours used in the printing.


FDC:

The Cancelation of the FDC shows a predecessor of the fire brigade truck presented in stamp three, a Magirus Deutz truck from 1954, that surely is the Magirus Deutz S3500.

Magirus Deutz is the previous name of Iveco Magirus AG, a truck manufacturer based in Ulm, Germany, founded by Conrad Dietrich Magirus (1824–1895) in 1864.

The company began manufacturing fire-fighting vehicles in 1864. In the late 1910s, it started the production of trucks and buses. These vehicles developed a reputation for high engineering standards, able to operate under the most arduous conditions..

The company also invented the turntable ladder, as Magirus Leiter, which quickly became an essential item of fire brigade equipment worldwide.

The parent company was Klöckner Humbolt Deutz AG, maker of the well-known Deutz engines, so the brand commonly used was Magirus Deutz, and for a short time Klöckner. The logo of Magirus Deutz was a stylised M with a sharp, long center point to represent the tower of the Ulm Cathedral..

In 1975, Magirus was purchased by Iveco which continued producing some Magirus trucks for a short while under the name "Iveco Magirus" before abandoning it completely in most countries. However, Iveco trucks were sold under the Magirus brand in Germany and other European and Middle Eastern markets until the end of the 1980s. Nowadays the Magirus brand is only used for the company's firefighting equipment section, not for the whole fleet of manufactured trucks.

Iveco Magirus is one of the leading manufacturers of fire fighting equipment. Basis for the fire fighting trucks are mainly Iveco's own chassis and engines, but also platforms of other truck manufacturers are used to build up the fire fighting equipment. With its Magirus brand turntable ladder, Iveco Magirus is the unrivalled global market leader.

Most trucks from Magirus are also known as Magirus Deutz because the air-cooled engine came from the factory of Deutz AG. These engines are still being sold for agricultural and marine use.

Finally, for the truck shown, this FDC is useful for more wide collection about transport, or motorized vehicles.

If you consider that there are another topics in this stamp, that were not spot in this review, you are encouraged to telling me about them, so please do not hesitate to post a comment. I would appreciate your help very much.

No comments:

Donations

Imagine a world in which we all offered what we do best, and we all do what we like most to do.

Then, not only imagine it, but also live there. I'm already there, join us.

Hugs,
Diego

Share

In case you want to publish this article in another place, I will appreciate that you communicate with me first by adding a commentary in the article (click in "commentaries" underneath the the text). Commentaries are moderated so please do not hesitate to include your email address in them.

Hugs,
Diego