| Collection |
Beavertown Fire Station |
| Date |
1955 |
| Description |
Beavertown Fire Station: Dennis fire appliance, with a Rolls Royce B60 Mark 20 A, 6 cylinder, petrol engine with a 4.256L capacity, a Dennis No.2 pump, with a capacity of 500 gallons a minute and the tank can hold 150 gallons of water.
Registration number DY3003. It was ordered by the Blenheim Fire Committee in 1953 and manufactured in the United Kingdom, arriving new at Blenheim Fire Station on 19 January 1955. Chief Fire Officer Taylor threw a glass of water over its radiator and christened it "Reliance". A specially cast name badge was fixed to the radiator. It was the first appliance in Blenheim with its own water and tests showed the pump had the capacity to operate at 660-gallons per minute; the equivalent of three tons of water.
Its first call out was to a grass fire in Hospital Road, where the nearest water supply was half a mile away and the value of water being carried onboard was amply demonstrated. Other fires it attended were a 1959 fire at T.H. Barnes yard, the 1969 'Trans Echo' fire on the river bank where the Wadsco Commercial Vehicle Centre is (2013) on Horton Street, a fire at the Redwood Flour Mill one night in 1970, 1975 at the St. Christopher's hall - which was an early morning fire, the 1976 fire at Marlborough Fibreglass, which is where Blenheim testing Station is now (2013) on Herbert Street and the last big one was the Farmers Building on Queen Street in 1979. It was retired in 1986 [Sources: Callout, the Blenheim Volunteer Fire Brigade 1870-1995, by Don Stephens, published 1995, page 65 and Marlborough Midweek, February 6, 2013, page 22].
The ladder and pump are at the back and the breathing apparatus (see image 7) is of the correct era. The siren is on the roof.
The new Zealand Fire Service was nationalised in 1976 and at that date they took over the ownership of all appliances. The NZFS donated Reliance to the MHS Fire Station in 1986. |
| Object ID |
0000.800.0835 |
| Object Name |
Truck, Pumper/ladder |
|
