Babcock supplies London Fire Brigade with extreme weather vehicles

Image courtesy Babcock

These bespoke 4×4 vehicles can pump 500 litres of water and are fitted with a larger boot to allow more storage space for equipment such as misting pumps, wildfire beaters and leaf blowers, all of which will provide more flexibility in how fires are tackled.

Babcock has a long-term support contract which started in 2014 and runs until 2035 to manage the LFB fleet which consists of more than 400 vehicles, 50,000 pieces of operational equipment and two fire boats.

Each of the new vehicles has off-road capabilities as well as technology which enables firefighters to tackle fires more quickly and safely, helping to protect valuable green space around London.  

Continuing the successful trial from last year, Babcock delivered the vehicles ahead of the warmer weather.
 
Sandy Donald, LFB Fleet Contract Director at Babcock, said: “Providing LFB with additional capability to help boost their dry weather preparations is essential for keeping people safe and to help protect the environment.

“The extreme weather response vehicles will be located across London and in the event of hot weather, LFB will make use of this additional capability to quickly react to fires around the capital.”

Deputy Assistant Commissioner for Operational Resilience, Phil Morton, London Fire Brigade, said: "The risk of grass fires and wildfires in London is very real, as we saw to such extreme effect in the summer of 2022. It is important that we learn from events like these and make changes to our equipment that enables the Brigade to respond to these types of fires as safely and effectively as possible.

"The wildfire response vehicles are light, agile and its off-road capabilities mean it can reach places that our standard fire engines cannot, which is so crucial for incidents such as grass fires. The misting lance technology will also significantly enhance the way in which firefighters extinguish these fires."

As well as the fleet maintenance, Babcock also delivers the replacement of LFB vehicles, boats and operational equipment, managing their supply chain on LFB’s behalf.

Babcock supports all 102 fire stations across London as well as the River Station in Lambeth. In addition to this, it provides an asset availability service with 2 hours repair or replace service or critical assets such as the fire appliances.