New rural fire truck donated to Upper Moutere Volunteer Fire Brigade

A new four-wheel-drive fire engine with a large water tank is the Upper Moutere Volunteer Fire Brigade’s newest recruit.

The fire engine, worth just over $200,000, was handed over by Tasman Pine Forests to the Upper Moutere Volunteer Fire Brigade on Monday night.

Fire and Emergency NZ principal rural fire officer for Nelson Tasman Ian Reade​ said forest companies had a longstanding relationship supporting fire crews in the region, with Tasman Pine Forests currently supplying five vehicles to volunteer crews.

“It works well as Upper Moutere is very close to the northern end of their estate.”

Reade said the new truck was multi-purpose, it could be used to carry water to house fires and to respond to motor vehicle crashes as well as covering challenging terrain to get to vegetation fires.

It replaces Upper Moutere’s existing rural fire engine and can carry 3000 litres of water, so it can respond to fires that are away from a reticulated water supply.

The four-wheel-drive truck is capable of going off-road and has a six-person cab, which meant it could carry a whole crew, as the old appliance could only seat two.

The brigade also have an urban fire engine that is designed to deal with structure fires.

Reade said it came with a portable water dam which could be left with the urban appliance to pump water onto a fire while the rural engine could go and refill its tank.

“We’ve now got quite a modern fleet in the Nelson Tasman region.”