Companies with large plantation assets have had to maintain their own
suppression resources, including fleets of fire engines. The 1990
photo on right shows the Kinleith fleet of NZ Forest Products,
including 3 Isuzu 4WD fire engines.? In 1990, Tsman Forestry was
looking after forests valued at $1.6B. For this, it had over 400 staff
and contracters trained in fire suppression, and 15 monsoon buckets,
five 4WD Mercedes Benz engines (3600 litre tanks), two 12,000 litre
slip-on tanks, and an ex-dairy tanker. NZ has been fortunate in that
several companies (Mills Tui, Wormald, Fraser Fire & Rescue, SPEL)
have been capable of building fire engines to high specifications, and
have done so for the NZ Fire Service and rural authorities. In 1989,
Mills Tui completed delivery of 18 Hino GT175 trucks built for
Defence. These had 2900 litre tanks with 2 portable pumps mounted on
the rear deck. Some of these Hino have since been sold to RFAs. And
the Department of Conservation has had a number of engines based on
Hino trucks built to replace the vehicles that were inherited from the
Forest Service.
Post-Forest Service, the requirement of RFAs to meet suppression
responsibilities has seen an upsurge in modern engines and tankers,
usually built to RFA specification on second-hand chassis's by local
engineering firms. This has ensured both innovation and a diveristy in
design. Unlike Fire Service appliances, there are very few with PTO
pumps, with most relying on mounted portable pumps. Water capacities
tend to be larger, and 4WD fire engines are much common.
from Fire Trucks – FRFANZ - frfanz.org.nz/history/fire_trucks/
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