July start for fire ‘bug’?

Press, 22 June 1978, Page 1

July start for fire ‘bug’?

New Zealand’s most expensive and up-to-date piece of fire-fighting equipment — which has tried the patience of Christchurch firemen for ah.iost two years — may at last start work early next month. “That is what we hope for, but we have been proved wrong in the past,” said the regional commander of the Fire Service in Christchurch (Mr B. F. Hyland) vesterdav. The $135,000 turntable ladder machine has been plagued by one problem after another since it was delivered to the Christchurch Fire Service in De= cember — almost 18 months after it was supposed to be ready tor use. In the meantime, Christchurch firemen have had to reply on a 43-year-old Merryweather ladder appliance which had been discarded by the Auckland brigade. The history of the new ladder machine, the most modern in New Zealand or Australia, has been a sad one from the start. Its delivery to Christchurch was held up time and time again by design faults and the failure of mechanical parts during testing. Wormaid International (New Zealand), Ltd, first gave a Quotation for the ladder in August, 1974, and the contract, worth

about $120,000, was signed in December that year. Since then, the cost of the 22-tonne machine has risen by at least $15,000. Christchurch firemen had about one week’s training on the appliance before it was forced off the road by numerous problems. Firemen drivers found the big machine was likely to stall on corners because of fuel starvation caused by a badly designed fuel tank. They said the power-ta-weight ratio was too low — the machine is lucky to attain 70 kmh — and on one exercise the 30.4 m ladder became stuck 27m in the air. The brief training exercises also revealed electr’ -al and hydraulic faults, and problems with the transmission. At one stage, part of the ladder equipment fell off. Mr Hyland said it was now hoped that the ladder might be operational by early July. New parts had been brought from the United States, and were being fitted by C. W. F. Hamilton, Ltd." But Mr Hyland said the machine would not be commissioned until the Fire Service was fully sat» isfied that the “bugs” had been ironed out, and a training period completed without more problems being discovered.