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RNZ News
5 days ago
- Automotive
- RNZ News
New firetrucks on ageing chassis heading to stations
Several trucks have broken down before or during fires around the country. Photo: Finn Blackwell Almost three dozen new firetrucks are due to head out to brigades battling with old ones prone to breaking down. Thirty of the 34 new trucks are built on chassis that Fire and Emergency (FENZ) bought several years ago and stored. The agency has had a raft of costly problems trying to replace its Type 3 trucks - the workhorse of its fleet, a little smaller than the Type 4 and 5 ladder trucks. The 30 Angloco MAN trucks were bought, stored, then shipped to the UK to be turned into firetrucks, then shipped back. "All the bodywork and extra components are new," deputy chief executive of organisational development and capability development Sarah Sinclair told RNZ. "They are new firetrucks and they are being shipped to us as soon as they are completed.". The professional firefighters union (NZPFU) has expressed ongoing doubts. "These 'new' Type 3 trucks are the ones that have been sitting in a paddock up in Auckland for several years," vice president Martin Campbell said. Delivery of the MANs was scheduled to begin next month, through until next February. Tauranga - where firefighters spilled out of the cab of a 28-year-old truck, when equipment overheated in June - gets one. Elderly trucks "never seem to get a rest" , union Tauranga branch secretary Mike Swanson told RNZ. Another four new Scanias are coming too, but no date for them is on the delivery schedule released under the Official Information Act. Hamilton - where, last week, a truck's broken pump forced firefighters to withdraw , when the hoses stopped working - will get a Scania. Another five tankers, and seven utes and smaller trucks were expected in place between May and October this year, the schedule (PDF) showed. As well, about 17 more trucks were on order, taking the full complement to 70, Sinclair said. FENZ had replaced about 300 mostly utes and small trucks since it was set up in 2017, but the union said it had not kept ahead of the curve, not planned properly and held on to trucks too long. The problems were compounded and sparked legal action, when - under an earlier programme - FENZ ordered chassis and body builds separately, then discovered a design fault with the body build. It had to resolve that, forcing it to store another batch of chassis, then rectify the faults in the ones already built and ensure the new ones were built better. The $700m-a-year agency has some big ladder trucks on order, but still lacks any strategy for replacing them, for instance, that would properly take into account population growth, and the spread of multistorey buildings or factories or intensive housing, where they can be vital for their long reach. Five years ago, it was ordered to come up with a strategy, after shortcomings identified at the 2019 Auckland convention centre roof fire. In April, Auckland firefighters were trapped in a ladder cage above flames at a recycling plant fire and, with that truck out of action, another of the city's handful of laddertrucks sprang a hydraulic leak just before a big fire in May. A broken-down laddertruck reduced FENZ's response to the fatal Loafer's Lodge fire in Wellington two years ago. "Our aerial appliance capability strategy is not yet finalised," it told RNZ, which reported it urgently restarted work on the strategy earlier this year. "We will be happy to release it to you once it is completed." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
BBC News
05-08-2025
- General
- BBC News
Retired Hampshire and Isle of Wight fire engines sent to Ukraine
Two retired fire engines have been sent to tackle blazes in and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service (HIWFRS) retired the vehicles from frontline service and replaced them with newer sold them back to manufacturer Angloco who gave them to Action Beyond Words, a humanitarian organisation, which delivered them to of the appliances has now been delivered to Mizhhiria in the west of the country and the other was sent to the city of Zmiiv in the north-east to tackle fires in the Kharkiv region, close to the country's border with Russia. HIWFRS fleet operations manager, Colin Carter said: "We are delighted to see our old vehicles recycled to help our firefighting colleagues out in Ukraine."These fire engines had served their purpose here in Hampshire and Isle of Wight, and had been replaced by more modern vehicles, so it is great to see that they are still of use and continue to help to save lives, thanks to the work of Angloco and Actions Beyond Words."He added that they sell all of their appliances when they reach the "end-of-life", which allows them to reinvest the funds back into the fire service. You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
