Ponsonby 2613, K' Road, 25 May 06

[thestressedkiwi]

they had a relief dodge up in thames i dont know if they still do but dad used to hate driving it up some of the steep hills in thames

[thekiwicanuck]

I believe you! They used to have an old Dodge at Waitemata (Now Matakana 9276), and it held up traffic when responding to calls! XD

[thestressedkiwi]

yea i bet it did. Thames relief did the same and it was so noisy

[thekiwicanuck]

LOL! Need a siren on the back! "Don't rush me, I'm in a hurry"

[thestressedkiwi]

Thats right you know

[joshmoo2126]

the fire service needs to get rid of the that form tender and get a new one

[thekiwicanuck]

Probably only got like 10,000k on the clock, LOL!

[thekiwicanuck]

The foam tender is definitely among the oldest frontline trucks around here. The relief aerial is a 1979 Mack, from memory, but it sees way more action than the foam tender.

[joh2]

Yep! Its not uncommon for fire appliances to be over 25 years old in New Zealand! Actually where I am, Timaru, the local St John STILL use an early 1980s Bedford CF!

[thekiwicanuck]

There was a Bedford in use on Waiheke Island until recently, but it was just a First Aid unit, not a frontline ambulance... They're pretty out-of-date now, but they still look good!

[fireman257]

Our area spare appliance is a Dodge, I love driving her but some of the younger guys have problems with the splitter gearbox!

[joh2]

That'd be cool, a classic vehicle to use on the job! Until recently, when it was placed into preservation, Timaru's snorkel unit was a 1976 International!

[anesti]

nice video and nice looking piece of apparatus

[thekiwicanuck]

LOL! I thought it was one of the strangest-looking trucks in the fleet, but its still pretty cool... Thanks dude!

[anesti]

well generally non us apparatus look weird to me and probaly vice versa for you. anyway this rig like you said is strange which it is to me but thats what makes it nice something out of the ordinary. anyway what was happening there, here in new york it is so freaking rare to see a foam unit responding

[thekiwicanuck]

Its very rare here, too! There was an incident earlier that day which 2613 would have been called out to (see "Auckland 2015 Turning Out"). This clip was taken a couple hours later, so most likely 261 and 2613 were returning to station from that incident when 261 got called out to another one in town. Two of Ponsonby's four crew would have been in 2613, so they would have tagged along to fully crew 261.

[EmergencyVehiclesUK]

Great Video