History

Originally, the unit was made up of one vehicle and whoever was available to drive it to the scene of the incident.

The vehicle was a “Vintage” 1968 International 6 wheel drive ex-Army unit that had been converted to a Bulk Water carrier.

In 2004, the District took delivery of a new Scania 6 wheel drive vehicle and with it; Bulk Water Support was born.

This was mainly due to the efforts of its current Captain, Aaron Medina and Gosford Operations Inspector Ian Bartholomew.

The Members were drawn from Brigades in the District as part of Headquarters Group.

Presently the fleet consists of:

Capacity

Gosford 13 Scania 6x6 All wheel drive vehicle 10500 ltrs

Gosford 13A Freightliner Heavy Ridged Tyres 11500 ltrs

Gosford 13B Volvo Prime Mover & Trailer 28000 ltrs

Gosford 13E EmmaBuilt Rideon Promotional Artic 90 ltrs

With this increased fleet, the Membership numbers also had to increase. The Unit originally had 15 “active” Members. These Members are also Members of other District Fire Brigades. During “campaign fire’s,”, where the Unit is required to man the vehicles on a daily basis it was becoming difficult to man 2 of the 3 vehicles we had at that time due to a lack of availability of the Members. This year (2007) a recruitment drive was held. The Unit now has 42 Members (up from 15). Most of these Members are new to the Rural Fire Service and require intensive training to be ready for the 2007-2008 Fire Season.