CFA’s Fleet and Protective Equipment department has recently commenced production of twenty standard build Field Command Vehicles (FCVs) in conjunction with Victorian based manufacturer Quik Corp.
These vehicles are funded from both the Volunteer Emergency Services Equipment Program (VESEP) and the Enhancing Volunteers Grants Program (EVGP).
This current production run follows on from the production of 16 units last year. Feedback from the previous units has been considered and incorporated into the most recent version of the FCV.
The project was originally developed to standardise the FCV fleet and provide a common platform for incident management.
The standard build FCV is built on a Ford Ranger XL (3.2 litre 4x4) cab chassis, with some additional features including side steps, snorkel, dual batteries, all-terrain tyres and nudge bar.
“The Ford Ranger has been tested and evaluated to ensure it meets the capability requirements of a CFA FCV,” Project Manager (Fleet and Protective Equipment) Steven Hill said. “The Ford Ranger provides a high level of safety and durability to meet CFA’s unique operating environment.”
A body module, designed for ease of change over between cab chassis, has a lightweight construction, without compromising strength to maximise payload.
The vehicles are both Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM) and Australian Design Rule (ADR) compliant, whilst being fit for purpose and cost effective. The fitout has also been designed to minimise damage to cab chassis to enhance future re-sale value.
The design of the FCV body incorporates features like whiteboards, stowage storage solutions, Engel fridge, additional 12v charging points with USB chargers, 12v to 240volt 1000W invertor, under-tray draw and fire extinguisher. Cabin accessories include two Tait radios, portable radio charger, siren and UHF - all compliment the standard Ford Ranger features.
A new feature in this model enables the flexibility to relocate the Tait radio heads from the cabin to the body, allowing the operators to take advantage of the built-in incident management capability.
The red/blue emergency lighting configuration has been developed to provide 360-degree emergency lighting when working on scene. All emergency and scene lighting has been tested and approved by the CFA Communications Department, to prevent interference with digital radio.
“The CFA standard build program has many benefits in relation to regulatory compliance, functionality including being fit for purpose,” Steven said. “These benefits, together with CFA project managing the build, allows brigades to focus their time elsewhere.”
The brigade takes delivery of the FCV similar to a tanker or pumper, where they retain their existing FCV until the new unit is delivered.
Technical or design questions in relation to the CFA standard build program can be made to Project Manager Steven Hill here.
Any questions relating to VESEP funding for standard build FCVs can be directed to Di Frost - d.frost@cfa.vic.gov.au.
Author: Daisy Cleland