NI Fire authority opts for Crossland

The Northern Ireland Fire Authority has taken delivery of a new 10,500 litre water carrier from Crossland Tankers.

The carrier has been built to brigade specifications and will join three modified tankers of a different make already owned by the Fire Authority.

Crossland Tanker supplied this tanker to the Northern Ireland Fire Authority

Crossland Tankers has provided extensive staff training to the Fire Authority at their training ground in Belfast. The training included an explanation of how to operate the vehicle and the correct procedures for optimum health and safety. It also included a hands-on demonstration of how to fill the tanker from a variety of water sources and discharge methods.

The Crossland water carrier has the ability to collect water from hydrants or open sources of any kind. Once collected, the water can either be fed direct into the main fire tender or can be deposited in a portable dam allowing the carrier to go and refill.

The water carrier can collect up to 10,500 litres in around four minutes and offload it in a similar time scale.
The Fire Authority’s new carrier will mainly be used for fires in rural and forest areas, where a constant supply of water is not always on hand, and at special incidents like large building fires where a large quantity of water is required.

Northern Ireland Fire Authorites water carrier is built on a Volvo FM9 chassis 6x2 rear steer. The tank is constructed from 3mm stainless steel with stiffening bands in order to withstand vacuum and pressure and the externals of the tank are clad in polystyrene and over laid with fibreglass sheets. The tank also comes with a number of pieces of equipment which include the portable dam with a 12,000 litre capacity, a light portable pump, an air re-wind hose reel, a floating pump and a search light.

To comply with brigade standards, Northern Ireland Fire Authority also specified the cab to include an 11mm triple laminated windscreen, anti-bandit filmed side windows and sliding polycarbonate inner safety screens.
Neil Coyle, Transport Representative, Northern Ireland Fire Authority explained why Crossland Tankers were chosen:

“We needed a new water tanker and when put out to tender Crossland fulfilled all of our requirements. Their tanker is built to a very high standard while the staff are very helpful, professional and have a very high standard of workmanship.”