Fire Engines Photos

Any idea of the registration number or the fleet number?

Added by Bill on 24 August 2009.

Hi Bill,
I shall check if I have other slides, i remember that day, they were shifting equipment from one DCU to another, sorry its a bit far away.
cheers - jp

Added by Jacques PETER on 25 August 2009.

Paddington(A21)in Harrow Road,Paddington had the Divisional C/Unit with the reg-YHV 213T,and was numbered DCU-3 in the fleet.It remained a DCU until 1984 then transferred to the Media Resources Group.OOS-Unknown.

Added by Pete Matten on 25 August 2009.

Thanks Pete. A few more questions...
Do you know how many DCUs there were in the same batch?
The reassignment of the DCUs to alternative roles in 1984 appears to coincide with the appearance of the "A" reg Range Rovers, did they take over the control/command role?
If so, were there a similar number of Range Rovers?
Thanks

Added by Bill on 25 August 2009.

There were a total of 9 Ford '160' Series purchased by the brigade in 1979/80.One went as a Fire Investigation Unit(reg-VHV 232T)to Lambeth,the other 8 as DCU's to Clapham(reg-VHV 211T),Ealing(reg-VHV 212T),Paddington(reg-VHV 213T),Lewishham(reg-VHV 214)East Ham(reg-VHV 215T)these were all from 1979.In order they are DCU1 to DCU5.The last three are,Popular(reg-CYV 876V),Wembley(reg-CYV 877V)and last Shoeditch(reg-CYV 878V).These were from 1980 and were numbered in order DCU6 to DCU8.I have no details when they went out of service only that DCU1/DCU3 and DCU6 went to Media Resourses Group.
In 1988 the LFB started to purchase the medium size prime mover/pod system of appliances,these being generally Dodge/Bedford and were used in a multible of rolls including FCU's.Its really most difficult to give an exact location of all these prime movers but the Fire Control Units were though devided into the 5 Areas this dating from 1986,these being 'NE' Area HQ-Popular,'N' Area HQ-Paddington,'NW'Area-Wembley,'SW'Area-Croydon and'SE'Area-Lewisham.The appliances used for the FCU's were Dodge.
The Range Rovers you mension were known as Forward Control Units.They were used for there rough terrain capabilities by the Senior or Principal Officer,with communications to incidents where road vehicles might be delayed or unable to gain access.The brigade operated six of these,one for each of the Brigade Areas(5)of the brigade,and one at Headquarters at Lambeth.The first of these was purchased in 1984,the others in 1986.
I hope this answers some of your questions and if there is anything else please ask,Pete.

Added by Pete Matten on 25 August 2009.

Chaps that's C21 Shoreditch... not Paddington...

Added by Mike Cotton on 21 March 2010.

Hello, my name is Nick Allen, I'm a retired firefighter who served with both Liverpool/Merseyside and eventually Derbyshire Fire and Rescue. I'm also a modeller and I'm looking for suitable subjects for a model based on a LWB Ford Transit MKII and your photograph of the appliance above would be ideal. Do you have any other photographs of this appliance or others based on the Transit which I could use for reference?

Added by Nick Allen on 16 April 2018.

Have a look at picture 40706 for a rear view of this appliance type.

Added by Petros on 18 April 2018.

Oxford Diecast are producing a model of DCU8 as pictured in 1:76 scale. Model (ref: 76FT2003) is due Q1/2026

Added by Kevin Ellis on 10 July 2025.

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