Fire Engines Photos

The 1222 F was a special 12 ton GVW forward control fire appliance chassis with an unusually powerful 220 DIN BHP six cylinder engine and optional automatic transmission, introduced in or around 1981.

Although very rarely placed into service in the UK, they were very popular in Germany and in several other European countries.

Most notably, one was converted in to the first ever rescue pumper for the Berlin Berufsfeuerwehr in or around 1983, pioneering this concept - which is now commonplace in many countries around the World.

Berlin was the first city brigade to realize that fires represented a declining proportion of their calls, while rescues, road traffic accidents and other general service alarms were all on the increase - a trend which still continues to this day in many places...

Added by Rob Johnson on 06 May 2020.

The 1984 prototype Berlin F1222 HLF (with a low profile cab) is on this site - photo # 19099.

Added by Rob Johnson on 08 May 2020.

One of these from 1984 is still in service with one of the volunteer fire companies in Kehl, Germany. It has a 1600 LPM pump, 1200 litre tank and nine seat cab. As this town of 35,000 has eleven pumpers at its five volunteer fire stations, some of the outlying ones do not get many calls. So they can keep equipment for up to thirty years, and - as everything is very well maintained - it is ready to go into action at a few minutes notice. Even after thirty years, many German Mercedes and other brands are exported to other countries (such as Argentina for example) where they often spend another twenty years or more in fire service duty.



Added by Rob Johnson on 08 October 2021.

Hello, Berlin FB did introduce the LHF in early 1983 however it was not the first German brigade to do so. Cologne 1971, Duisburg 1971, Frankfurt 1972, Gießen 1977, Krefeld 1981, Lübeck 1976, Mannheim 1978.

Berlin FB trialed a HF-2 (Hilfeleistungsfahrzeug) in the mid 1970s, it looked like a ET Rüstwagen but also carried water and a small pump. Following this hydraulic rescue sets were placed on the TLs as these carried a generator to power the hydraulic pumps.



Added by Matthias Stockebrand on 28 November 2024.

Thanks! I don’t know why my friends in Berlin claimed to be the first. The only thing I can think of is that perhaps their specifications were adopted by other fire services as a sort of standard?

Added by Rob Johnson on 29 November 2024.

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