First Essex has donated a bus to be used by fire crews during training exercises.
Essex County Fire and Rescue Service will specifically use the vehicle to better understand the layout and mechanics of a bus.
In addition, local fire officers will also have the opportunity to review and improve bus evacuation procedures in a range of different circumstances.
The bus First Essex has donated has a standard interior layout that is common to other bus types running throughout the area of Essex. It is now approaching the end of its life and has been replaced as planned by one of the 17 brand new vehicles that were introduced earlier in the year, with leather seats, CCTV, Wi-Fi and environmentally friendly engine technology.
Alex Jones, Managing Director of First Essex said: “Buses play an important role in people’s lives locally, providing access to education, work and leisure for thousands of people daily. It is extremely rare that the fire service is called out to an incident involving one of our vehicles, however, the safety of our staff and customers is our highest priority and we must always be prepared. We are therefore really pleased to support Essex County Fire and Rescue Service.”
Leading Firefighter Dan Hart said: “I would like to thank First Essex for their kind donation. We have recently purchased new equipment to deal with heavy duty vehicle incidents and the bus has provided us with a fantastic opportunity to train our crews in a range of scenarios to better prepare us for any incidents we are called to attend.
“The bus is located at the Chelmsford Fire Station and has been in much demand already. Training sessions have been held, inviting fire crews from other stations from around the Essex area to practice with the new equipment on the bus.”