Fire & Rescue 4x4 meets its match in seaweed

Built on a Toyota Hilux 4x4 chassis, and with extra chunky tyres to give it extra off-road ability, the vehicle is a bespoke design for the service designed to tackle blazes down some of Guernsey’s smallest lanes.

On Monday, the Fire & Rescue Service called the warden of Lihou, Steve Sarre, ahead of time to say they were going to test the vehicle’s ability to get across to the island.

Unfortunately, the heavy seaweed made it difficult for the vehicle to get across the last part of the causeway.

The Lihou island tractor was on hand to help pull the 4x4 across the slippery terrain and onto sturdier land.

‘It’s great that [Fire & Rescue] wanted to bring the vehicle across to test how well it could deal with the terrain,’ Mr Sarre said.

‘There’s no point in waiting until there’s an actual fire to make the first trip across – it gives them some time to go back to the drawing board to make sure the next attempt is successful.’

Mr Sarre said the driver gave it a good go to make it across but the amount of seaweed meant the heavy vehicle struggled.

‘You’ve got to test a vehicle like that in every environment, it weighs over three tonnes so it’s a tricky job to manoeuvre.

‘There are other routes across to try so I don’t doubt it’s ability to make it over at all.’

The house on Lihou is fitted with smoke detectors, fire doors and an alarm system.

‘It’s as safe as it can be – the important thing if there was a fire would be to get everyone out of the house and onto safer ground,’ Mr Sarre said.

After taking on the role just a matter of months ago, Mr Sarre said further discussions are in the pipeline with the Guernsey Fire & Rescue Service to talk about safety and response on the island.

The vehicle was built by firefighting equipment supplier Angloco and has been specially adapted for Guernsey.

It can hold up to 500 litres of water, giving it just under a 10-minute supply to tackle a blaze with a crew of two, who can both put on breathing apparatus sets contained in the back of the cab.

A spokesperson for the Guernsey Fire and Rescue Service said: 'Our new rapid response vehicle got a bit stuck on the way to Lihou thanks to the seaweed and shingle.

'Anything that can stop a Toyota Hilux - a vehicle Top Gear drove to the North Pole (where it faced no seaweed or shingle) - is a formidable obstacle.'

They explained that these were the sorts of reasons for testing the vehicle and its capabilities over certain terrains and tasks it may come across in Guernsey.

'The vehicle is currently undergoing testing before becoming fully operational,' they said.

'The vehicle made it across the Lihou causeway without trouble, but unfortunately owing to the depth of the seaweed on the shingle bank the wheels lost traction and it became stuck.

'We had a plan in place for just such an eventuality, with the Lihou warden ready to tow the vehicle out. It then drove back across the causeway.

'We always test so we fully understand the operational capability of our vehicles before declaring them ready to undertake blue light response – meaning we can better deploy our assets in an emergency.'