Fire service invests £500k in vehicle to tackle heath fires
The Unimog has a capacity of 4,500 litres of water and 162 litres of foam
Last updated 26th Jun 2025
Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service has invested nearly half a million pounds in a new off-road multi-functional vehicle to help it tackle fires.
The Service already has a Unimog, based at Wareham fire station, which is now 16 years old and needs replacing.
The new vehicle arrived in April and following extensive testing and driver training, it is now operationally available and has already been used at three wildfire incidents over the weekend.
Assistant Chief Fire Officer Darren Langdown said: “As part of our commitment to the on-going development of our vehicles and equipment, I am really pleased to confirm we now have our new Unimog in service and able to respond to incidents, which can include flooding and thatch fires as well as large fires in the open.”
He added: “We have seen a significant increase in the number of wildfires across our Service area over the past five years, and the Unimog has been an invaluable asset to tackling these. The new vehicle has some new features, which will enhance our firefighting capabilities not just on our heaths but in other hard-to-reach rural locations.”
It has a capacity of 4,500 litres of water and 162 litres of foam, together with front, rear and roof mounted monitors that can direct large quantities of water or foam at a fire.