Our tanker is going...

We are sad. Our faithfull old tanker is leaving us. Why? Not because it's old (it is, 21 years and due for replacement) but because of a safety recall. The drivers seat belt has a potentially faulty buckle end stalk.

If anyone is confused, for us a 'Tanker' is a dual purpose fire fighting vehicle - for both structural and wildfire work. And this particular type was a good one. Small enough for tight country, and big enough to carry enough water and crew to do the work. The new trucks are all much larger; more water, better accomodation, 4WD, all the good stuff. But it's always a bit sad to see an old friend go, especially since we won't be getting a new one in return! But maybe a truly new one will come before too long.

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Permalink Reply by Joe Stoltz on May 9, 2008 at 12:29pm

Why isn't the seat belt buckle just being replaced? Or am I missing something?

How many gallons, by the way?

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Permalink Reply by mck306john on May 9, 2008 at 2:29pm

i think we both are missing, bc when something get recalled they normally fix what ever it is that got recalled then you get your truck back.... idk... but it doesnt make a hole lot of sense to me...

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Permalink Reply by Tony P on May 10, 2008 at 4:27am

Recall is what they told us - then that we would be losing the tanker. It wasn't a manufacturers recall. I've heard we're getting a slightly newer one as replacement, only 13 years old... We'd have been happy with a new stalk!

This is a 2000 litre tanker - oine of the smaller ones.

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Permalink Reply by Jacob on May 17, 2008 at 9:51pm

That sucks. Why don't you just fix it?

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Permalink Reply by Tony P on May 18, 2008 at 7:56am

Well. More change. The truck has been repaired, but we still lose it because of its age. It's being replaced with a slightly younger truck (13 instead of 21 years old!), a 4WD one at that. This is a temporary measure as we're listed for a new truck, supposedly later this year, but this might be put back a bit...

We don't have to raise money for replacement of primary appliances, these are all allocated by the State HQ of the FRS. One of the advantages of a statewide fire service. Individual Brigades can raise funds for and purchase additional trucks if they think they have the need. Brigade purchased trucks must be to a standard, and the FRS will supply refurbished bodies from older trucks - and this is what is going to happen to our old tanker body, the cab/chassis will be sold.