£600k boost to water capabilities for West Sussex

West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service has added two new water carriers to enhance its vehicle fleet and boost its resilience when attending incidents needing higher volumes of water.

The new vehicles are 18 tonne water carriers and have been custom built for the service by Emergency One in Scotland at a total cost of £600,000 for the two vehicles. Based in Petworth and Shoreham Fire Stations, they replace West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service‘s existing capability.

The Chief Fire Officer, Sabrina Cohen-Hatton, explained that West Sussex is a predominantly rural county with limited static water supplies. She said: “Water carriers are critical in ensuring successful outcomes at incidents where supplementary water supplies are needed and can provide this in a timely, agile, and efficient manner.”

With the ability to carry 9,000 litres of water, these vehicles offer additional resilience when responding to emergencies in areas of low water pressure, and when supporting large incidents where a higher volume of water is required in firefighting operations. 

The water carrier is capable of delivering water directly to an incident via its own hoses and hose reel and are equipped with two inflatable dams which can store 10,000 litres of water and can be used to provide a continuous supply of water for firefighting during an incident. 

The service says that the water carriers will be fully operational from next month.

The industry will once again be gathering at the NEC, Birmingham for The Emergency Services Show, co-located with The Emergency Tech Show, on 17-18 September, check out the full exhibitor list here. You can find Emergency One in Hall 5, Stand J232.