Fire Engines Photos

Fire Engine Photos

 No: 16709   Contributor: Konrad Nowak   Year: 2009   Manufacturer: Star   Country: Poland

NStar 266/SHL Rescue/Chemical Chełm

Star 266/SHL – Rescue/Chemical – Chełm

POLISH CLASSICS SERIES – brought to you by firerescue.pl

'Polish Classics' is supposed to be the series showing some of the typical, mass-produced Polish fire engines and various specials used by the fire service in the Communist era (1945-1989) and the 1990s. But here we've got a truly unique, yet still very classic and very Polish machine. This all-terrain Star 266 (one of relatively few medium 6x6 trucks in the world) was originally a military flatbed general purpose truck. In the early 1990s, it was handed over to the fire service of Chełm, eastern Poland. It was sent to the specialist vehicle manufacturer SHL of Kielce, where it was converted to a Rescue/Chemical Incident Unit. Its off-road capabilities enabled Chełm's firefighters to respond to a variety of incidents in rough terrain – especially oil spills, as the vehicle carries dams which can be deployed on the surface of rivers, lakes, etc. Other equipment carried includes chemical protective clothing, an AmiflowLift pump, Holmatro hydraulic rescue equipment, a lightning mast, a power generator, BA sets, a variety of spades, shovels, hammers, traffic cones, etc.

The Chełm firefighters also use a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter light chemical incident unit.

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Star 266 was the successor of Star 660. It was developed in the period 1969-1973 and became the basic truck of the Polish armed forces. One of relatively few medium 6x6 trucks in the world, it was praised for its superb off-road capabilities, as well as its unsophisticated and reliable structure. It even took part in the Paris-Dakar Rally (and the crew did arrive at the finish line). Stars 266 were also exported to the USSR, Angola, Libya, Yemen, Hungary and Burma. The prodcution of the 266 series ended in 2000. Two new models followed – 944 (6x6) and 1466 (6x6), based on MAN components. Unfortunately, they are regarded inferior to the 266. Their production ceased in 2007, as MAN could not see a future for these two models or the 'Star' brand either. The Polish armed forces are now likely to order new trucks from Jelcz, whose military branch still survives. There are also plans for complete modernisation of the existing 266 trucks.

The fire service used (and to some exent still do use) a range of vehicles based on the 266 chassis – rescue trucks, water rescue units, mobile workshops, command & control units, even hydraulic platforms. But first and foremost, Star 266 was the backbone of the fleet of forest/rural fire-fighting appliances.

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More pictures from Chełm: www.firerescue.pl/thumbnails.php?album=126

(picture taken in September 2008)