Ok, so next year a couple of mates and myself are planning on buying a fire engine and driving to africa and then giving it to a local charity who need one.
However i can't find out what the license classification I need to be able to drive it is?
so does anyone know.
Class C but getting it insured might be your biggest problem with it been a specialised vehicle
Whoo ha, don't fancy the fuel bill for that trip. An old Fire engine? 10 MPG?
My dads fire engine idles for about 20 minutes on 5 litres of petrol.
I'm pretty sure it's a HGV class 2 license you need. I've a mate who's in the fire service, after he'd passed his test he came and asked me if I ever needed a driver for the odd day (My Dad has a roadworks/haulage company that uses 18t rigid tipper wagons).
Hope you get this sorted and good luck!
(edit- Craigxxl is right, it's C, just checked my licence. Class 2 is the old classification!)
Ian where abouts are you? Lots of fire services do similar it maybe more cost effective to vollunteer your services rather than go it alone.
Even the well planned trips encounter "difficulties" bribes at every border control, visa issues that require to be dealt with.
http://www.operationflorian.com/ is a good place to look.
Don't waste your time and money
as said paperwork, fuel, bribes
An once you get there if you make it a small part will break and they can't source it or can't find which one it is or can't fit it. So your machine will go idle very soon. Thats if they don't sell it for scrap before.
Having lived in africa i wouldn't bother seen so many nice machines neglected or idle for a missing bearin(governement grader for months for ex.)
Class 2 etc is out of date/meaningless.
C1 category will cover you up to 7.5t, but I suspect most fire engines will be over 7.5t which means you need a C cat. Expect to pay £1500 to for either, but a fail will set you back another £300 or so.
It always seems good fun for the delivery but surely it's cheaper for them to source a good supply of their own? If indeed they want them or even need them.
Big Vehicles designed for good roads, short journeys, fast response and good infrastructure will last 10 minutes. Medical and Cutting gear probably irrelevant. Limited water capacity. Engines with electronics.
Its a nice idea and may work in some cases but I reckon it's littering in someone else's country.
A few years back a bunch of range rover based fire engines were retired from service on airfields. Older and simpler technology than regular fire engines that are currently retiring and perhaps more commonality in terms of parts with vehicles already trundling around Africa. They were 6 wheelers but only 4 wheels were driven which was the reason they were decommissioned. Being airfield based they only had a few dozen miles on the clock.
Easier and cheaper to drive down there, but assuming you can find one you'd probably pay 3 times as much as you would for a conventional fire engine.
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