Two new fire engines with enhanced rescue abilities will be on hand to respond to incidents in Staffordshire from next year.

Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service is buying the "enhanced rescue pumps" as part of its programme to replace existing vehicles.

One will be based on Stoke-on-Trent while the other will be located in Stafford, a fire service performance meeting heard on Wednesday (May 10). But the service has faced delays in acquiring its new vehicles due to a global shortage in parts.

A report to the meeting said: "The chassis order for both appliances was placed August 2022. Due to global parts shortage we are expecting a 12-month lead time which will be followed by a 20-week body build.

Parts for the engines were ordered in August 2022 but due to a global parts shortage, the service has faced delays (Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service).

"Delivery to Staffordshire is expected to be April 2024. The appliances will be the latest version of the Advanced Technology (AT) and will include features which surpass any front-line appliance currently in the service.

"To enable the service to provide a resilient operational response for incidents requiring technical rescue capabilities the requirement for Enhanced Rescue Pumps has been based on current and foreseeable risk within Staffordshire. An analysis of previous incidents and incident types attended has also been conducted."

Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Ben Adams said: "It was delayed, but perhaps not as long as people wait for a new car, but it has still been delayed. What does it mean we can do that we couldn't do before?"

The new engines will have heavy rescue equipment meaning the vehicle can be used for a range of incidents (LDR).

Chief Fire Officer Rob Barber responded: "It's been a little bit frustrating but we can't overcome the supply chain issues. Everybody in the whole of the country has been experiencing that, but it isn't as bad as we thought it was going to be.

"The enhanced rescue pump has everything a normal fire engine's got on it, but in addition to that we have put in a lot of heavy rescue equipment. The fire-fighters have been involved in developing what kit they need on there, where the gaps in provision have been previously and how we can get an appliance that meets the needs of all incident types.

"When you get incidents on the motorway or on A-roads with large HGVs it's really different to dealing with a couple of saloon cars that have flipped over or had a head-on. Just getting up to the vehicles is difficult, so we have platforms so the fire-fighters can do the cutting at height.

"Currently we've got one rescue tender with all the heavy rescue equipment on and that's based in Longton. That's great if you get an incident around the Stoke-on-Trent area, but if you're down in Tamworth there's quite a significant travel time.

"We've looked at all the data demand and we're going to have two of these enhanced rescue pumps with heavy duty cutting equipment on. One will be stationed at Longton and one will be stationed at Stafford because the travel times are equalling it out across the county then."

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