Ten new fire engines for Shropshire

Ten new engines are on their way to the county’s fire stations, after the service’s governing body approved the final slice of funding.

Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service has been planning to buy the 10 vehicles since 2018, but Head of Finance Joanne Coadey told fire authority members their combined cost had gone up from £2.8 million to £3 million due to inflation since then.

She said Chief Fire Officer Rod Hammerton and Treasurer James Walton had authorised some of the extra money under their own powers, and fire authority members granted her request to approve the remaining £146,000. 

Officer Hammerton added that electric vehicles may have a future role in the brigade, but said they were more viable in built-up areas like London, Manchester and the West Midlands and converting Shropshire’s fleet “would have more impact on the environment than leaving them as they are” at the moment.

Ms Coadey told the Shropshire and Wrekin Fire and Rescue Authority Strategy and Resources Committee: “We have, currently, 10 replacement appliances in our capital programme and those have been scheduled in over the last couple of years.

“We are in a position now to order those appliances but, because we’ve approved the schemes in previous years they now need inflation added to them because the costs have risen to more than the allocated amount.

“The total for the appliances is £3 million. The amount we have approved currently is £2.79 million.

“The first three appliances have been ordered and we were able to cover the inflationary increase with a virement from the chief and treasurer, so we are now requesting a further virement of £146,000 so we can make that order to the manufacturer.”

A report by Officer Hammerton and Planning, Performance and Communications Manager Ged Edwards, updating members on capital spending, said delivery of the engines was “expected in three phases during early 2022”.

Officer Hammerton said converting to electric power was “a really difficult one for fire engines”.

“Buses or refuse lorries are high-utility vehicles, they’re moving all the time, so you get a really good return on investment,” he said.

“Fire engines are not moving as much, they are incredibly low-mileage.

“So the additional investment in changing our fleet out to electric ones would have more impact on the environment than leaving them as they are.”

He noted that a trial of hydrogen-powered fuel cells began at Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service last month, and said Shropshire was keeping a “firm eye on this”, but said electric vehicles “could have a place in our urban stations”.