Fire Engines Photos

I remember spending many a happy hour going up and down in the cage of this snorkle as a young boy, This went from Pembroke Dcok to Tenby Station for a short time, just after PD received a New Dodge HP (Weird looking thing, but a higher reach for the Oil Refineries). It then went to Aberystwth who now have a Bronto, sadly PD no longer have a High reach. Does anyone know what happened 857M ???

Added by D.K on 22 December 2009.

Hopefully someone could help, Does anyone know what happened to XTH 857M?, My station is holding its Golden Anniversary in 2012, and would like some information on previous appliances for the Retired Firefighters who served on her.

Added by D.K on 19 August 2010.

Not sure if it went to Ireland DK. But Mike George former DO at Haverfordwest may be able to help you with this one. Good Luck.

Added by Andrew Middleton on 20 August 2010.

DVLA shows it as last taxed in Nov 1992, no export marker shown, but it shown as YELLOW!

Added by Gary Simpson on 20 August 2010.

Things dont sound to good then, Yellow!!! oh my god I would guess she's scrap now, gutted.

Added by D.K on 22 August 2010.

I have a shot of it in yellow and when it was no longer in service with the brigade. I can't post it, since it's not mine to post, but it does show the sticky end it came to when the booms were badly buckled and the bodywork - probably together with the chassis - became severely damaged as a result

Added by Ian Moore on 24 August 2010.

D.K Im sorry to hear that, this is yet more of our fire service heritage gone.

Added by Gary Simpson on 24 August 2010.

Unfortunately PHPs were not a real success, as the design compromised the capabilities of these vehicles in a number of ways.

- They had less accommodation for equipment in their lockers, for water tanks and for ground ladders than regular water tenders.

- The 55 foot (16.8 meter) platform was only useful in a very limited number of situations, and in practice rarely actually used.

- The booms added a lot of weight, negatively affecting acceleration and braking performance.

- The weight of the booms on a standard chassis rather than a custom low profile chassis created a high center of gravity which resulted in a poorly handling vehicle.

- They were longer and higher than a regular water tender, and thus much less maneuverable.

I have never heard of any brigade actually replacing a PHP with another one at the end of its service life.

In fact, many were kept on the front line for only a few years. A lot of them were sold to Ireland at bargain prices, and many others very quickly went to "reserve" status.

Added by Rob Johnson on 21 September 2019.

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