TOTAL LEMON: MFB spends $800,000 repairing Pumper Tanker 22

[SunnybankScan]

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/metrop ... 5823772349


THE sighs of relief from Pumper Tanker 22's crew when their jinxed truck makes it to a fire scene are sometimes as loud as from the people they're helping.

MFB officers assigned to the chronically defective vehicle can never be certain it will arrive intact.
The fault-ridden fire engine has needed repairs costing $370,000 since it hit the road in late 2002 at an initial cost of about $600,000.
Problems have stretched from bumper to bumper, with crews at times unable to accelerate, blow the horn, rewind the hoses, open the doors, turn on the air-con or use the flashing lights.
The problematic pumper has spent 573 days at the mechanic's workshop, more than a fifth of its life.
Its first failure - a faulty horn - happened less than a fortnight after it was commissioned.
The Herald Sun used Freedom of Information laws to obtain the truck's 10-page MFB maintenance log detailing more than 500 faults.

It reveals the exhaust has fallen off five times - including once on the way to just its second call-out after two weeks in the workshop - and the siren has repeatedly failed.
Sometimes, the 3200lt pumper tanker won't start at all. At other times, it stops unexpectedly.
United Firefighters Union secretary Peter Marshall yesterday labelled the truck "a total lemon" and said its record raised serious public safety concerns.
He called for the Ringwood-based truck - which is supposed to service Eastlink in case of emergency on the toll road - to be scrapped.
Mr Marshall said the truck's patchy service record wasn't isolated, and claimed there was a handful of other similarly problematic vehicles in the MFB's fleet.
"I think it's an indication of how troubled the fire services are. What people need to realise is the community pays a significant amount of money for fire cover, and they deserve a lot better than this," he said.
"The reality is there is enough service history for it (Pumper Tanker 22) to be removed from service and decommissioned."
MFB spokesman John Rees said all of the brigade's trucks "face a pretty hard working life".
"They are rapid response vehicles and are driven accordingly whenever called to attend emergencies," he said.
"You can't expect them to have the same maintenance needs as the family Holden.
"Breakdowns do occur, which is why the maintenance regime is stringent and regular." Whenever the Ringwood truck was out of service, it was covered by a spare vehicle or an appliance from a neighbouring fire station, he said. "There is a policy of progressive vehicle replacement, so this vehicle will be replaced under that program at the appropriate time."

Fiona Hudson From: Herald Sun January 27, 2010

[Blake]

Well, bloody hell. That's just great that is.
We've had a similar issue at my local with replacement Chinese components that continually break.
Kinda important things, like the main tank drain busting off, and dumping the entire capacity on the ground.
Not great.


Yeah, yeah, I know; "holy thread resurrection Batman".

[Phantom]

Yup, well over 6yrs....

[Blake]

That's got to be some kind of award

[X-Firey]

"You can't expect them to have the same maintenance needs as the family Holden"....

One would hope not... They should be better maintained than the family Holden based on my previous experiences with my local dealer... But that is the problem so much work is now out sourced in the never ending quest to save money to waste on something else...