Fire Engines Photos

So this what it looked it like! It doesn't look that much smaller than one of the normal Mercs. I had heard about this appliance and that it was not that successfull with Somerset Fire Brigade. A pity as it's compact size would have been handy on the many winding country lanes so typical of Somerset.

Added by George A'court on 26 October 2010.

Didn't this serve as a RT after at Bridgewater? And if so was the bodywork altered?

Added by Gary Simpson on 27 October 2010.

Gary this was never a RT at Bridgwater, Taunton had a Merc 814 Saxon RT K805 GYD.

Added by Somerset Steve on 27 October 2010.

After this machine was taken off the run around 1999 to my knowledge it was never used again in front line service in Somerset. I remember that was talk of converting it to the water rescue unit to replace the sherpa van they were using but this never happened. The brigade sent it to the Glastonbury festival once for one of the on site appliances but it was to wide and nearly slid off one of the narrow tracks. After this I believe the brigade started leasing it to a RAF brigade somewhere and I was told that they eventually bought it. It would have been a good machine to preserve as it was a one off, well certainly for Somerset anyway.

Added by Paul Pickford on 28 October 2010.

If the Brigade needed a compact pump they may perhaps have bought a Vario. The 814 short wheelbase panel van was used in several countries and offered a 2000 LPM pump, 1000 liter tank, five or even six seat crew accommodations and a decent amount of locker space.

Examples from Spain, Belgium, Poland and the Netherlands are on this site.

It was discontinued a couple of years ago, and Mercedes now sell the Mitsubishi Fuso Canter as its successor - another very popular compact fire pump chassis in Japan, the Far East and Australia.

Added by Rob Johnson on 11 March 2019.

Please add your comments about this picture using the form below.

Comments

Your Name

Your email address - this will be shown on the page and will allow the system to notify you of further comments added to this picture.