fire trucks ( WW2) east coast Australia

[jim sewell]

Gents
With the current bush fires on the east coast of Australia causing much loss and damage .
Are there any WW2 type trucks used as fire trucks any more either by ,
Country Fire brigades
Councils , shires etc
land owners , farmers

If so what makes are still in use .
In West Aust we have 1970's ex military trucks ( Inters )still in use with shires etc but being phased out for the preference of diesel powered units .
Some farms have CMP and Studebakers , but very limited .
Regards
Jim S.

[cliff]

Jim I lived at a small community called Tansey which is in the Kilkivan Shire just west of Gympie before shifting to Gympie 4 years ago and it was only a few months before I shifted that they got replacement machines for their old Blitz's (CMP's).

Most of the old fire trucks I saw up here were CMP's rather then the mixture of makes that seemed to happen in the Southern States.

Cheers
Cliff

[phoenix]

I know that quite a few RFS units down here still have and use 40 series cruisers, and about 50 of them were sold of a few months back as well.

[Keith Webb]

Here they are all modern diesels, Isuzu I think. The Country Fire Authority have had a diesel only fleet for a number of years.

[Ian Pullen]

Here in the NE region of Vic we are using Isuzu diesels. The CMP fleet were pensioned off a long time ago. Some were updated to Inters, normally Mk 4s and the (very)occasinal Mk5. But there hasn't been a CMP used by the CFA for a long time.

[Mike K]

It varied from state to state . In NSW , they were still using CMP's into the 1980's in some areas . I recall seeing a very nice F60L Ford still in service in Batlow in 1981 . Cargo , near Orange had a C15A fire truck until around 1980 . The big problem with them was speed , with house fires , by the time the Blitz arrived , the house was burnt to the ground . Some rural NSW brigades had US6 Studebakers too .

QLD hung onto CMP's and still had a few CMP's as late as the early 90's or later even . I recall spotting one on the evening news around 1993 .

The CFA here made an attempt to standardise and quite a few units bought Austins in the 1950's . These replaced the many WW2 WOT2's and Morris CS8's and Bedford MW's that were issued to the CFA as early as 1944 . The Sassafras CFA unit in the Dandenongs had a 1940 Marmon - Herrington in the 1950's , its big drawback was the canvas top on the cab , which had habit of catching on fire from embers ! Upper Beaconsfield of all things had a Dodge Weapons carrier right up to the late 1970's . I have been told that Ferntree Gully had a GMC 6X6 into the 1960's .

They are all long gone now . With insurance problems and other safety issues taking precedence over practical views. Can you imagine the uproar if some volunteer fire fighter was injured because of an old truck .

Mike

[jim sewell]

A little humour ( no offence meant )
One dark night outside a small town in Wiscon, a fire started inside the local chemical plant and in a blink of an eye, it exploded into massive flames. The alarm went out to all the fire departments for miles around.

When the volunteer fire fighters appeared on the scene, the chemical company president rushed to the fire chief and said, "All of our secret formulas are in the vault in the center of the plant. They must be saved. I will give $50,000 to the fire department that brings them out intact."

But the roaring flames held the firefighters off. Soon more fire departments had to be called in as the situation became desperate. As the firemen arrived, the president shouted out that the offer was now $100,000 to the fire department who could bring out the company's secret files.

From the distance, a lone siren was heard as an old Chevy Blitz fire truck came into sight. It was the nearby Norwegian rural township volunteer fire company composed mainly of Norwegians over the age of 65. To everyone's amazement, that little run-down WWII surplus fire engine roared right past all the newer sleek engines that were parked outside the plant.

Without even slowing down, it drove straight into the middle of the inferno. Outside, the other firemen watched as the Norwegian old timers jumped off right in the middle of the fire and fought it back on all sides. It was a performance and effort never seen before.

Within a short time, the Norske old timers had extinguished the fire and saved the secret formulas. The grateful chemical company president announced that for such a superhuman feat he was upping the reward to $200,000, and walked over to personally thank each of the brave fire fighters.

The local TV news reporter rushed in to capture the event on film, asking their chief, "What are you going to do with all that money?" "Vell," said Ole Larsen, the 70-year-old fire chief, "Da first thing ve gonna do is fix da brakes on dat f----- truck!"

Copied from Somewhere .

[Ian Fawbert]

Our local brigade (in the hawkesbury region of NSW) still has a C15A and a Studebaker US6 (bedford diesel powered though) 'in service'. While they sit in the shed or at someones place and were retired from service about 5+ years ago (mostly after those guys were burnt in an older truck 7 years or so ago i think it was).

HOWEVER!

We are gooid friends with the captian (dad was vice captain). Last time i spoek to him- this time'ish last year or year before when there were fires up the mountains and they needed a tanker, they still took out the stude- purely because it could go anywhere and was another tanker when they desperately needed water. I dont beleive the C15A ventures out anymore at all. The brigade still owns them and intend on keeping them as they ahev been a large part of the brigades history for nearing 40 years now i believe.


Cheers,
Ian.

[jim sewell]

This one is still operational on a farm in the wheatbelt .

[Dinty]

G'day All, Mostly modern equipment (Isuzu) around here (Cessnock) still a few scattered Mk5 ACCO's remain in service, no CMP based trucks for decades, a Studebaker last in service I think in the early 90's at Bulga but it was fitted with a Perkins diesel anyway cheers Dennis

[Wayne Henderson]

The last active CMP fire trucks I saw were in the Coolup Local Bushfire Brigade in the early 1990's. Painted up yellow with a orange flashing light. I ended up with one of the 4 they had.

There are still a few around on farms but time has caught up with most of them now.

Jim, you would know of the two sad cases in Brookton, one a fire tender, the other a canteen vehicle.

Northam also had several Blitz fire trucks and as one local told me, "as soon as the sirens started the blitz went straight to the pub to get the beer because by the time it got to the fire it was out."

I think there is a fire truck still in the Northam area theat was professionally turned out as a fire tender with ladders, pumps, hoses, closed sides and crew seats- very post war.

[jim sewell]

Wayne
The "Canteen Vehicle " was a C60L Aust bodied machiney workshop , complete with canvas , ex State Emergency Service , very low mileage , very good order .
It was turned into a tree watering truck around the town and then stripped .
Very sad .
Jim S.

[ron]

Hi Jim,
What can I say P M S L here,
Ron

[Tony Smith]

Encountered this old Ex-Bushie. No66 was part of Mt Victoria's Brigade near here, I see that No67 is still running around in it's firefighting paint, it was seen at Corowa.

[phoenix]

Not WW2, but this monster is still in use I believe

http://www.remlr.com/Army-Inter/watn.html

[Dinty]

G'day All, Thats an absolute ball tearer thanks for sharing only wish it were mine LOL cheers Dennis

[Bob Moseley (RIP)]

"Da first thing ve gonna do is fix da brakes on dat f----- truck!"

What an absolute ripper yarn. I'm the same as Cliff, P M S L.

Bob

[Cory Saunders]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

It varied from state to state . In NSW , they were still using CMP's into the 1980's in some areas . I recall seeing a very nice F60L Ford still in service in Batlow in 1981 . Cargo , near Orange had a C15A fire truck until around 1980 . The big problem with them was speed , with house fires , by the time the Blitz arrived , the house was burnt to the ground . Some rural NSW brigades had US6 Studebakers too .

QLD hung onto CMP's and still had a few CMP's as late as the early 90's or later even . I recall spotting one on the evening news around 1993 .

The CFA here made an attempt to standardise and quite a few units bought Austins in the 1950's . These replaced the many WW2 WOT2's and Morris CS8's and Bedford MW's that were issued to the CFA as early as 1944 . The Sassafras CFA unit in the Dandenongs had a 1940 Marmon - Herrington in the 1950's , its big drawback was the canvas top on the cab , which had habit of catching on fire from embers ! Upper Beaconsfield of all things had a Dodge Weapons carrier right up to the late 1970's . I have been told that Ferntree Gully had a GMC 6X6 into the 1960's .

They are all long gone now . With insurance problems and other safety issues taking precedence over practical views. Can you imagine the uproar if some volunteer fire fighter was injured because of an old truck .

Mike

I have these photos of upper Beaconsfield quick fill taken July 1983.

It was sold not long after. Does anyone know what happened to it?

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by Cory Saunders

I have these photos of upper Beaconsfield quick fill taken July 1983.

It was sold not long after. Does anyone know what happened to it?

I recall seeing that Dodge fire truck during a club outing many years ago - the VMVC visited the Upper Beaconsfield area on a few occassions . From memory, the fire brigade said they bought the vehicle from John Belfield . John ran a garage in Upper Beac. during the 1950's so maybe there is a link ?

Mike

[Hanno Spoelstra]

This picture reminded me of the dramatic picture Keith once posted on this forum.



Caption: Ex WW2 Blitz wagon on firefighting duties on the Blue Mountains emergency November 1968.

Source: http://www.fire-engine-photos.com/pi...umber21583.asp

[Keith Webb]

You wouldn't want a vapour lock!

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

This picture reminded me of the dramatic picture Keith once posted on this forum.

Attachment 74615

Caption: Ex WW2 Blitz wagon on firefighting duties on the Blue Mountains emergency November 1968.

Source: http://www.fire-engine-photos.com/pi...umber21583.asp

[Dianaa]

My Mk3 Inter was with the Gloucester Shire and was repowered with an Isuzu diesel after the 1994 fire season when the NSWBFB had a crew or two burnt in petrol powered trucks. The mandate was that all operational trucks were to be diesel.



The original tray was mounted on a tripod arrangement to protect the bottom of the tank from flexing. All the red has gone these days its back to OD.

[Ron King]

In my time as a Prentice mechanic at Sutherland council in the early 1980s my self and a leading hand mechanic was given the job of converting near new TK Bedford 4x4s from petrol to diesel.
The reason was because of the lost of Two fire crews at Heathcote oval due the petrol engines vapour locking.
From 1985 insurance companies in NSW would not touch petrol engined fire tankers ect.
The insurance companies caused the conversion of older trucks to Diesel.............any operational petrol units of any type from 1985 were not covered and therefore became museum or historic vehicles within the NSW RFS and would not be used if the powers to be found out about it.

[Ron King]

The conversion of the MK 3 International above post would have been done about 1985 and not later.
The other factor was the lack of seat belts and on some vehicles the lack of protection from heat and embers for the crew.
Now things have moved on again for insurance/liability reasons and seats belts for everyone,vehicle protection sprinklers, multiple radios,air-conditioning etc.
All sort of things the old trucks could not support and in the real world in the bush fire fighting game for the better.

[Ron King]

When doing the conversions from petrol to Diesel on near new TK Befords 4x4s I couldnt help thinking of the great waste of tax payer money in doing this as a cheap electric petrol fuel pump mounted low near the tank would have stopped any fuel lock/vapour lock problems.
The diesels fitted were worn out Bedford 500s from garbage trucks.
The only good side was the TK Bedford 4x4s performed much better.
My US6 Studebaker has a RFS history and I still have the slide in tank and pump etc which fitted inside the standard cargo body.
The standard cargo body troop seats carried the fire fighters to the fire.
If was not used actively after about 1985 and dispose to a museam about 1990.
In NSW you will find the petrol vehicles were not active after 1985 even though they were on hand and operational.