VOLUNTEER SUPPORT UNITS

The present Volunteer units that are in Strathclyde started off with boxes at a central point in the village before getting a wooden hut or maybe rented accommodation where their equipment was kept and on receipt of a fire call they would go there and collect the equipment and put it in a members vehicle, usually a Land Rover.
Then the various brigades started giving them Auxiliary Towing Units, Hose Reel Tenders, Austin Gypsies or Land Rovers etc. Strathclyde inherited a lot of these and also converted some Road Rescue Units to VSUs. The Strathclyde started giving Midi Water Tenders, on Bedford chassis, to them. They also converted a Ford A0506 Flatbed lorry into a VSU and sent it to Bunessan on the Isle of Mull.
Then came the first motors specially purchased for Volunteers three Ford P110 Pick-up trucks all of which went to the Isle of Arran. These were followed by Transit vans, the third of which had a roller shutter fitted to the near side. Then came a Steyr Puch Pinzgauer six wheel drive off the road vehicle with body work by Carmichael, this went to Tobermoray as the second appliance at first but was so small that half the gear had to be carried in a trailer which it towed, so it was sent to Colonsay as a VSU. Next came four Iveco Turbo Dailys commonly known as "nodding donkeys" due to the fact that the metal tank when filled with water was so heavy that it lifted the front wheels off the ground which made steering rather difficult and when the water started moving about the front started going up and down. The metal tanks were taken out and replaced with fibre glass ones which were also moved forward on the chassis, which sorted it a bit. They have a 250 gallon tank. They were all to be withdrawn and given to the Community Fire Safety Groups as the "Fire Witches" they had were past it but this never happened and two of them are still in service as VSUs (March 2005). A one off Volkswagon LT50 with bodywork by Dependable Bodies was purchased and after a long time in the brigade it eventually went to Corriecravie on the Isle of Arran, with the displaced Ford P100 going to Iona. A second Steyr Puch Pinzgauer six wheel drive off the road vehicle with body work by Carmichael was purchased for the Isle of Colonsay but they preferred the Land Rover they were using considering the Pinzgauer too heavy and as a result would be bogged down in the peat if it went off the road.
The first four Mercedes 814D 4x4s with bodywork by Angloco were built. These had a featherweight pumps in the pump locker which had to be removed and plumbed in to get to work. It proved very difficult to get the featherweight in and out due to the ladder for access to the roof on the offside and so the four of them were recalled so tail lifts could be installed as it had become a Health & Safety issue. At a later stage the rear ladder was removed and beam gantries fitted so the ladders on the roof could be removed without going onto the roof.  The 4 P regs had 2 lockers on each side but on the R regs this was changed to 3 lockers per side and the front locker was straight through although by the Y regs there was a bulkhead between the front lockers. The P and R regs had their bodywork done by Angloco and the W regs onwards had their bodywork done by Emergency One UK in Cumnock. On the 51 regs the rear lockers were increased in length to be the same length as the front lockers. Mercedes stopped making the 4x4 chassis, so the 04 regs are 4x2s. Somehow I don't know how the 05 and 55 regs were back to 4x4 chassis. The P reg Mercs have 250 gallon tanks and all the rest have 300 gallon tanks.
As they could not get Mercedes 4x4s MAN 12-225 4x4 chassis were purchased, these were rather big and also needed a LGV licence to drive them, as a result North Command who were originally supposed to get them, didn't want them and after lots of rumours about them going to retained stations they eventually went to Arran.
When Blackwaterfoot's Ford P100 failed it's MOT a W reg Land Rover was converted into a VSU by Strathclyde Fire Brigade Workshops and stayed there until they got one of the MANs when it went to Lismore, where it will stay until they get a machine from the next batch of VSUs.
The 07 regs are larger Mercedes Vario 816Ds and these have the plastic Poly Bilt bodies and this time the bodywork is by JDC. The theory is the bodywork will last twice as long as the chassis, so when the chassis is rotten they will just put the bodywork onto a new chassis and save on the cost of the bodywork.
The 11 reg Mercedes Vario 816Ds (SF11CWX and CWZ) have gone back to aluminium bodywork this time by Angloco. The rear also has the Red/Yellow chevrons and barn doors on the pump bay. These two VSUs have been re registered to SF61CXN and CXP. They have a 300 gallon water tank.

P172VSU has only 1 Hose reel, P174VSU has 2 Hose reels. If you are a volunteer can you tell me if your Merc has 1 or 2 Hose reels, ladder to roof or beam gantry, featherweight & tail lift or built in pump and what the size of the water tank on a Merc is.

SFBPG    Strathclyde Fire Brigade Preservation Group.

Photos of Volunteer Support Units

Land Rover and Austin Gypsy
Bedford Midi
Ford A Series and P100
Ford Transit
Iveco
Volkswagon and Pinzgauer
Mercedes
MAN

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