News

Teletruk To The Rescue

Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service has added a JCB four-wheel drive, 3.5t capacity Teletruk to its range of front-line fire-fighting and emergency equipment.

The Teletruk is deployed at waste and rural fires where it is used to move baled and bulky items to reduce the risk of fire spread, improve fire-fighter and public safety and limit the potential for environmental impact during the fire-fighting process. It will also be used at fire scenes during the clean-up and damping down phase of an operation, where there is a need to disturb smouldering debris to allow fire crews to direct water at deep seated fires

The Teletruk is transported to the scene of an emergency using a transport mechanism specially developed by JCB in partnership with Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service. It is driven on to a skid plate and elevated using a hydraulic system on to the back of a standard flatbed trailer.

Newcastle station commander Mark Walchester said, “Before we had the Teletruk, in many instances fire-fighters had to use shovels to move materials to expose the base of the fire when damping down. This process not only put personnel at unnecessary risk, but delayed the time it took to fully put out a blaze and resulted in greater use of water than was often needed.

“Using the Teletruk means we can aggressively attack a deep seated fire and buildings can be made safe far more quickly, which is good news for their occupiers – members of the public or businesses – who are able to recover goods earlier than was previously possible.”