Five New, State of the Art Fire Appliances Ready to Protect South Wales

South Wales Fire and Rescue Service has introduced five new, state of the art fire appliances with advanced technology to assist firefighters when responding to emergencies.

Three are of traditional design with the breathing apparatus mounted in the cab and the remaining two fire appliances will be the first in Wales to utilise the clean cab design, which for the first time will see the new Drager breathing apparatus sets mounted in the body of the appliance instead of in the rear crew cab. This is to help improve the ergonomic design and ensure that the crew cab is a cleaner and more sterile environment. Depending on the feedback received, the Fleet and Engineering Department have the capability to amend the cab to whatever is preferred or best received between the clean cab and traditional designs.

The body of the new appliances has flush fitting locker doors to reduce the chance of snagging or collisions with objects in tight country lanes. The appliances also feature electronic pumping and boast new, larger display screens in the pump locker.

Comprehensive training on the new appliances began at the end of May and will last for a duration of approximately six weeks for the 116 members of operational personnel from the five stations receiving the new Scania appliances. The Fleet and Engineering Department are working closely with the Operational Risk Management Department and will ask operational staff for feedback and their thoughts on the new appliances over the next few months. This feedback will be essential and will feed directly into how the service’s appliances are built in the future.

The stations receiving the two clean cab models will be Malpas and Pontypridd and the remaining three appliances with the traditional cab design will be deployed to Duffryn, Roath and Merthyr Tydfil. The older appliances that come from these stations will be utilised for training purposes and Fleet and Engineering as reserve appliances.