Rescue service and disaster relief organisation in Bavaria relies on the Unimog in case of crisis.
Their numbers include the workers in yellow and green overalls – protected from the virus by face masks, surgical caps and gloves: they are the volunteer helpers and members of RKT e.V. rescue service and disaster relief organisation in Bavaria. “We all have operational experience – from major disasters to smaller incidents. But with the COVID-19 operation we've really been run off our feet,” says the chairman of RKT, Tim Christen. For example, his team set up the COVID-19 swab-test sites in Landshut, Tirschenreuth and Nuremberg. Supported by the Unimog.
Perfectly organized and equipped.
“We were commissioned by the Bavarian association of statutory health insurance physicians (KVB) to plan and install the complete infrastructure,” adds fellow board member Florian Unfried, another founder member of the group. The RKT e.V. volunteers had to set up waiting areas, provide signs for car parks, put up tents and install heating and lighting. Then there were other helpers whose job was to assist the doctors taking swabs directly from the patients.
Technical support for the team comes from their highly professional vehicle fleet of two Unimog U 1300 trucks – both decked out in the yellow livery of the rescue service.
RKT e.V.
Set up as a private rescue service in Saal an der Donau in 2017, RKT now has 70 active members ready to spring into action across southern Germany in the event of an emergency. Behind the scenes, 160 non-active members are responsible for providing the much-needed finances, for example with their membership fees.
More information: rkt-ev.de
Thought of everything.
One Unimog was a former military ambulance acquired from the German army and converted into an extreme off-road civilian emergency vehicle compliant with all DIN specifications (call sign: “Regensburg Rescue 71/72”). Its special equipment includes additional lighting at the front from a 600 W LED light bar, two 120 W LED reversing lamps and another two 75 W lamps, LED surround lighting, air intake snorkel, roof hatch, Hänsch LED beacons, 8 LED front strobes, horn siren system and an additional foghorn as a vehicle horn.
When other vehicles start to struggle is the point where
the Unimog really gets going.
Tim Christen und Florian Unfried, Chairmen, RKT e.V.
The second model, with a Rosenbauer body, is a U 1300L (call sign: “Regensburg Rescue 53/1”) which originally came from colleagues in the Austrian disaster relief service and is used by the technical operations group. On board, it has three emergency power generators, two lighting sets, a 16 t lever hoist, a tent with its own heating system, field beds, a litter, a heavy-duty toolkit, chain saw, tensioning straps and an emergency medical kit.
The vehicle is equipped with a pneumatic lighting mast which can be extended to a height of up to three metres (2 x Seto LED 2000). It also has a Rotzler hydraulic cable winch (15 t), an air intake snorkel, 230 V power supply with a main priority circuit, the modified Hänsch DBS 4000 blue light bar, 8 LED front strobes, BOS digital radio and an overhead console with Bluetooth radio.
