A Road Trip through Central Europe

[BritishAndy]

I guess like most fire buffs, we all have our particular area of interest. Some guys might like apparatus from a certain State, or a certain chassis or type such as tillers. 

Me, well, other than apparatus from the USA, I really like apparatus from Central and Eastern Europe. This is a part of the world where in some cases, fire departments don't have the funding to provide the latest equipment and you will find apparatus still in use from the 1960's and 70's. Likewise, countries such as the Czech Republic have the very latest in technology. 

Each year, a group of us will take a week or so long vacation, hire a vehicle and explore this part of the world. Often they bring fantastic results, warm hospitality and interesting fire trucks. Sometimes they bring absolute craziness! 

Allow me to share some of my finds with you. 

First stop, Slovenia. A beautiful country which is full of mountains, lakes and greenery. The capital city is Ljubljana. Most fire departments are volunteer and whilst they have a lot of modern apparatus, they still operate some older, second-hand equipment. The volunteer fire brigade of Smlednik has this 1984 Dennis RS133 Pumper which originated from my home town of Liverpool. It has a 1000gpm pump and a 500 gallon water tank. 

find the nearest shell

[BritishAndy]

In some instances a full size piece of apparatus can't be provided for a small rural village. Here in Slovenia, a village with a population of around 350 people uses this tractor with trailer. It has a water tank, monitor, pump, booster reel and some lengths of hose. 

[BritishAndy]

Only a few miles away from the tractor/trailer can be found the small town of Cerklje. 
Here, a 2020 Mercedes-Benz Econic Aerial Platform built by Metz with B34 booms. It has a reach of 34 metres and could be considered the same as a Tower Ladder in the USA. 

[BritishAndy]

During our ten days on this particular trip we managed three different countries, Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia. Only one day did we have dull weather, the rest of the trip the temperature was in the high 30's, great for photographs, but tough work being out in the heat all day. 

On the day it was a little bit cooler and damp, we stopped off at a tiny village called Jost, high up in the mountains of Slovenia. They had a really unusual vehicle, a 2022 GAZ Sadko Next 4x4 Light Pumper which was imported from Russia. GAZ - Gorky Automobile Plant - is a major manufacturer of Russian trucks. The Sadko Next is a three-tonne chassis introduced in 2014 for off-road capability. 

The tiny volunteer fire station was at the side of the road with literally nowhere to photograph the vehicle. This was no problem, they took it up high into the mountains where there was a clearance. Not only was there a drop of a long way down behind the vehicle, but the guy also told us, 'be careful, there are lots of wild bears around here'.  



The view from the clearing, if you don't like heights then its not for you!