The hunt is on to find a suitable tanker to replace the small 4WD rural fire tanker housed at Greerton Fire Station.

'The tanker – known as ‘Little Flick'– doesn't carry a lot of water, which you need when it comes to vegetation fires,” says Western Bay Moana Rural Fire Authority's principal rural fire officer Barry Low, who is in charge of the replacement.

Senior firefighter Robert Pinkerton, and qualified firefighter Xavier Kennedy, checking the locker on the old tanker. Photo: Bruce Barnard.

Weight issues have also seen it necessary to reduce fire equipment the truck carries, to keep it legal, says Barry.

'This hampers its effectiveness in a callout.”

Barry applied for community funding for a purpose-built appliance/tanker 'but didn't quite meet the criteria” – turning the rural fire authority back to looking on the used vehicle market.

So far, Barry's spotted two candidate tankers; the first's vehicle appraisal gave disappointing results.

'Estimated costs of bringing the vehicle to a serviceable and reliable condition were greater than the asking price. This truck was discounted,” says Barry.

A second vehicle came up for auction, which Barry found to be an ex-milk tanker, already modified to use as a rural fire tanker for operation by a Waikato volunteer brigade.

'Enquiries indicated the vehicle had a number of mechanical issues. Unfortunately, the truck went to auction before these could be properly assessed.”

Barry's dream machine would cost about $200,000 to build, and they currently have about $75,000 for a replacement.

He reckons ratepayers already pay for appliances via rates, so he won't be asking the authority for additional funding.

'We pride ourselves on running a lean, mean operation.”

'We are not in urgent need for it – we will get by without – but the current tanker has been on the road for 10 years and its age is starting to slow it down.”

As the search continues, Barry says a likely source is Fonterra, which he understands has a fleet turn-over of six years.

'Contact has been made with Fonterra regarding surplus tanker vehicles, and this avenue looks promising,” says Barry.

'Their trucks have high mileage, when they come out of operational use, but we expect they've an excellent service history.

'They're also readily adaptable to rural fire purposes,” says Barry, who says a replacement will need a re-paint, signage, pumps and tank baffle-balls fitted, plumbing, and communications and warning equipment."