Fire Engines Photos

Another classic picture Andy. Do we know why such a large crew cab was required, was the HP ever crewed by more than two riders?

Added by Lee on 01 May 2011.

Lee, the cab was set up so it could carry a crew of four. However it was the norm to turn out with a crew of two. I think you may find that on bank holidays when we always liked to be on duty, any surplus crew may find themselves sat on the HP!!

Added by Matt Ireland on 01 May 2011.

This lovely HP was sold after coming out of service with Hereford and Worcester. I did hear that it went to an Irish brigade, but can't confirm this. Hopefully someone knows where it went to and if it still exists today?

Added by Matt Ireland on 02 May 2011.

It was a regular thing back then, to have the crew cab on specials extra bums on seats. Definitely a luxury that won't ever happen again.

Having dedicated special crews are almost a thing of the past now anyhow, with most having to rob a man off the support pump to drive/crew the special.

Added by Davey G on 02 May 2011.

Just found a photo of this old girl, now at Tipperary and registered 80TN263. Still doing the business at this age, not bad, and she looks good too!!

Added by Matt Ireland on 03 May 2011.

She's at Nenagh, North Tipparary. I photographed her back in 2003. Upload it when I find it.

Added by Andrew Middleton on 03 May 2011.

Only a few countries still crew aerials with four, five or six firefighters. These include the US, Canada, Japan and a few other South American and Asian countries. These almost all operate aerials with dedicated crews who are specialized in forcible entry, rescue, overhaul and recovery operations - although some have aerials with pumps, water tanks and extensive supplies if various hoses so they are also fully fledged fire suppression units too. As an example, Chicago have close to 100 pumpers and around fifty aerials - none of which are fitted with pumps.

Added by Rob Johnson on 12 October 2022.

In Tipperary livery here

www.flickr.com/photos/shanecasey51/3604253311/in/photolist-7TH2Ye-7TLiCC-6uuJWt-6uuM7M-7NJX5R-7NNUBy/

Added by Petros on 12 October 2022.

The Delta design copied the ERF snorkel chassis configuration, which in turn borrowed an idea which originated with American La France in 1947. This was to achieve a low profile cab by placing the engine behind rather than on top of the front axle. As a result, the rear of the cab was extended further back with a rear facing seat either side of the engine. This made access easier for maintenance, but it did mean that the space either side of the engine was pretty useless except for seating - if it were used for lockers, they would need to be emptied out and possibly on hinges to get to the engine.

For this reason, all but two ERF snorkels had crew cabs, even though the front seated three, as the absence of an engine housing provided for a double passenger bench seat.

As already mentioned, this was despite the fact they rarely ran with more than two riders.

Added by on 12 October 2022.

There was more than two ERF Snorkels without crewcabs.

Ed: Sussex ones were certainly single cabbed



Added by Martyn West on 14 October 2022.

I think that there was talk at times of plans to re-chassis this onto either a Mercedes or Volvo but obviously that idea was dropped. That excercise was adopted with Bromsgrove's HP originally based on a Ford in about 1977 and then transfered onto a Volvo in 1992/1993 which also carried a similar Simon S263 boom.

Added by Michael William Earith on 28 March 2023.

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.