Bitou purchases fire service vehicle
19 September 2011
The vehicle was purchased by Bitou Municipality to replace the old 1981 Chevrolet midi pumper as maintenance on the old v8 motors and Pump PTO systems became costly and viable with costs. The pumper brings the fire department up to a new level in operations, although they do not meet the minimum set standards in SANS 10090, they are far more better in position to offer better fire fighting in knock down time and suppress and extinguish fires more effectively and efficiently with this medium pumper.
The vehicle is designed on a 4x4 chassis to allow for terrain issues, it will not be a bush fire unit to go into plantations and vegetation; it will supply water to these units and mainly be used as intended as a rescue pumper. This vehicle will attend to motor vehicle accidents, rescue incidents, and to structural (formal, informal, commercial and industrial) and vehicle fires. The idea of hazards and risks continually growing with town development requires specialized training and resources in vehicles and equipment to limit effects and mitigate through pre planning and risk analysis, the fleet is predominantly for vegetation fire (wild land) Bitou will require refurbishment programmes into making vehicles multipurpose to a degree and extend operational life where vehicles cannot be replaced with the right tools, one works better, quicker and generally speaking safer, this is a milestone and has really shown that persistence, perseverance and patience pays off in the end.
