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The 1927 Essex Hose Carriage, a symbol of firefighting innovation, stands proudly as a reminder of NSW’s transformative shift from hand-drawn and horse-drawn carts to motorised fire appliances. Pictured outside the Fire Services Museum, c.1982 [Museum of Fire collection] Before the introduction of motorised fire appliances in the early twentieth century, fire brigades in New South Wales (NSW) relied on horse-drawn or even hand-drawn carts and reels to transport their equipmen

Command vehicles, also known as Fire Control vehicles or Incident Command vehicles, serve a unique purpose within the fleet of firefighting appliances. Command vehicles have not always been a staple however, as the concept was only truly introduced 1972 as the NSW Fire Brigades (NSWFB; now Fire and Rescue NSW, FRNSW) began exploring the opportunities and possibilities of what a Command vehicle might look like. Originally the concept envisioned by the brigade involved the usag

Did you know that it has been a decade since the Hon. Robyn Parker, Minister for the Environment and heritage attended the Museum to announce the listing of several of the Museum’s collection items onto the NSW State Heritage Register. What is the heritage register? The NSW State Heritage Register was created to identify places and objects that are of significance to the state of New South Wales. These places and objects help provide us with insight to previous generations

The development of the hydraulic platform: the Snorkel The hydraulic powered ‘elevating work platform’ (EWP) was first developed in the...

This year for 2024 our Vehicle of the Year is the 1984 Centenary Vehicle, an International 1810C pumper more colloquially and favourably known as the ‘White Knight’. As the name suggests this fire engine was originally commissioned and installed in 1984 to celebrate the centenary of the Fire Brigade (known as the New South Wales Fire Brigade, NSWFB, now better known as Fire and Rescue NSW, FRNSW). This pumper stood out for one major reason, that being its colour! The White Kn

By the 1930s the automobile market witnessed a shift with ‘small’ trucks being desired and possessing more power. Dennis, a prominent vehicle manufacturer ran the risk of falling behinds its opposition until it developed a revolutionary chassis that was 2 tonne capacity and offered unusual features for the time such as a setback front axle and hydraulic brakes. Reports of the time touted this as a “funny looking truck” and as a “courageous disregard of recognised practices” b

The earliest use of ladders for firefighting appears to have been for the accessing and removing of thatched roofs of buildings, with suggestions the practice dates back to the Roman Empire. As buildings grew taller, their use for saving life became apparent, and following the invention of fire hoses the opportunities for gaining access to upper stories for firefighting also increased. The early pumping engines were too small to carry ladders on board, so they were carried by

To set the scene of how the fire brigade formed in the Snowy Mountains we are going to take you back to the early 1900s when the area around Mt Kosciusko was evolving as a popular tourist area with a hotel being built nearby in 1909. Tourism continued to grow over the coming decades and in the early 1940s the government was looking at establishing a national park in the area. In 1944 the State Executive Council approved the constitution of a Kosciusko State Park Trust to take

Dennis Bros. Pty. Ltd. was founded in 1895 with the company first entering the market producing bicycles. Six years later Dennis Bros. would continue to grow and branch out into the production of cars by 1901. It would not be for another seven years until Dennis Bros. would further develop the business and diversify into the production of fire engines. Their first fire engine would be produced in 1908, using a White and Poppe petrol engine and a Gwynne turbine pump. From then

The following has been extracted from a Fire News Article written by the Museum of Fire from May 2013 in relation to the at the time new CO2 Tender entering the Fire and Rescue Fleet back in 2013. CO2 Tenders Past With the imminent arrival of a new CO2 Tender, we thought it timely to revisit the history of an appliance type believed to be unique to FRNSW over a period of almost 80 years. Back in the mid-1930s, the Sydney County Council (electricity distributor for much of Syd