Fire Service invests £27 million in ten-year rolling fleet programme

Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service is currently in year seven of a ten-year rolling programme to upgrade and modernise its frontline fleet.

The investment is delivering a modern frontline fleet that meets the changing and challenging risks of our geographical profile and the emerging trends both locally and nationally within the fire sector.

Since 2018, the Service has made an investment of £27 million, bringing into Service the following vehicles.

• 15 x light 4x4 pumps, known as L4Ps.
• 45 x medium rescue pumps, known as MRPs.
• 5 x all-terrain vehicles, known as Argocats.
• 3 x aerial ladder platforms, known as ALPs.
• 4 x all-wheel drive medium rescue pumps, known as AWD MRPs.
• Various vans for different purposes, such as co-responding, community fire safety, area support technicians, and workshops.  

The Service is due to have another four AWD MRPs and five water carriers shortly.  

The Service has recently awarded a contract worth more than £7 million for 25 new pumping appliances, which will start to replace light rescue pumps. The new pumping appliances will have MAN 12 tonne chassis with full dedicated battery-operated rescue equipment, 10.5 metre ladder and the following revision to the inventory.

• Two 22mm hose reels.
• Positive Pressure ventilation (PPV) fan.
• Increased amount of firefighting hose, including 51mm hose.

The team is currently working on specifications for technical rescue vehicles, incident command units (ICUs) and welfare support units. The welfare support units will comprise of a mixture of welfare trailers and toilet units, which will vastly improve the facilities for firefighters at a multitude of incidents.  

After this, the team will be working on replacement heavy rescue tenders (HRTs) and other specialist vehicles.

As well as the above-mentioned vehicles we have rolled out 40 new flexi duty officer (FDO) cars to replace the older Ford Kugas. These vehicles are fitted with the highest spec blue lights that offer greater visibility when responding to incidents and all these vehicles have been fitted out by our expert in-house vehicle technicians.

A significant amount of work takes place behind the scenes to ensure every new vehicle is ready for operational service and much of which goes unseen. This process involves a dedicated cross-functional team.

This collaborative effort ensures that every vehicle entering the Service is safe, fully equipped, and ready to meet the demands of modern firefighting.