Rural communities to receive new fire appliances

Two new fire appliances will soon be available for emergencies in rural areas of Hastings. The trucks will be based in Rissington and Putorino and will replace smaller vehicles which will be relocated to other areas.

The new vehicles are purpose-built Isuzu NPS300s single-cab medium fire appliances, with a water tank capacity of 1800 litres. The National Rural Fire Authority subsidised the purchase of the vehicles.

The Rissington appliance replaces a utility fire vehicle with a 600 litre water tank and the Putorino appliance replaces a 1995 appliance with a 1,000 litre water tank.

Deputy Mayor Cynthia Bowers says “It is important that our rural residents have confidence that, in times of emergency, modern firefighting equipment is available. These two new appliances will be a major step forward from the equipment which is currently available at these rural stations.”

Cynthia Bowers says “They will be used for firefighting in their respective rural areas but will be available for deployment to other parts of the district if required.

The appliances will be officially handed over to the Rissington and Putorino Voluntary Rural Fire Forces by the Minister of Internal Affairs Chris Tremain in a ceremony at the Hastings District Council Emergency Management Offices on Tuesday September 4th 2012 at 10am.