Current Appliances    


Talbot Tanker Hino 4WD 3.4D.
This vehicle is the first response appliance for any fire related emergency in the Talbot brigade area. It regularly responds to grass & scrub fires, structure fires, MVA's, vehicles fires etc.

The Talbot Tanker is 4WD and carries 3000 litres of water. It also carries Class A & B Foam for more specialist fire fighting tasks. 

 

  
Talbot Tanker 2 Hino 4WD 3.4C.
Commissioned in early 2007.

CFA's new Heavy Tanker, carries 3750 litres & features the latest in crew protection & safety equipment. All crew members are carried inside the crew cabin & sprinkler systems are fitted around the whole vehicle for use in the event of a burn-over.

  


Briggs & Stratton 9HP Quick Fill
The quick fill pump trailer responds to all fires the brigade attends, with a sole quick fill operator, to ensure that fire fighters can focus their attention on extinguishing the fire rather than the location of a water source.

The quick fill is equipped with, a generator & spot lights, 38mm & 64mm hoses, a knapsack, witches hats & tools.		  


Past Appliances    

The Lady Don

Purchased from the Ballarat Fire Brigade in early 1861 for £100, this manually operated, horse drawn fire engine was the first engine of the brigade.
Built in England by J.C Merryweather, Royal Engineers of Long Acre, London in 1851; the engine could be operated by a crew of up to 36, 18 per side, and at full capacity pump 200 gallons or 908 litres of water per minute, at a pressure of 100 pounds per square inch. The cranking action of the side arms, draws the water into the double action piston chambers, the water is then forced out through either, or both, delivery hoses.
The engine was named "The Lady Don" by Sir William Don and his Lady on October 22 1861, when Sir William and Lady Don performed in the Theatre Royal. Lady Don smashed a bottle of champagne over the engine and stated that it was with great pleasure she would name the brigade’s engine in honour of herself.
Working alongside hand reels, the Lady Don was the brigade's main fire fighting appliance for over 50 years. In the early days being pulled by a team of horses, and in the later years pulled by the fire fighters.
As the CFA took over operations, the quality of equipment started to be improved and the first of the motorised fire engines were introduced, slowly the Lady Don was to be left behind at the fire station.
In the late 1950's when the rural brigade received their first official tanker, it was decided that the Lady Don would be relocated to allow for the Austin tanker of the rural brigade to be housed in the fire station. The Lady Don was moved to a shed in Ballarat Street North where eventually the shed fell down around the once magnificent manual engine, and its condition deteriorated to a state of disrepair unless by a professional.
The Lady Don was traded to the Wormald Bros. for what seems today as near nothing; the trade being for a competition reel, 2 lengths of competition hose and 1 pair of gun metal couplings. However at the time this was a very worthy trade as the traded items were quite expensive to buy.
Now the Lady Don is on display in the Melbourne Fire Services Museum, having been restored to its former glory, proudly enscripted with "Talbot Fire Brigade" on its rear.

 

Austin Type 6 Pumper.
The last pumper of the Talbot Urban Fire Brigade, featured a front mounted Thompson 350 pump, It had the capabilities of pumping 1570 litres of water per minute. The side compartments carried approximately 350m of hose, plus fittings, tools and adaptors. This unit is believed to have been the best pumper the brigade ever had and served through until the CFA decided it was no longer warranted in a town the size of Talbot.
This unit attended most of the significant structure fires in Maryborough over the years.

  


Austin 2.2 Small Town Tanker.
The first official tanker of the Talbot Rural Fire Brigade, replaced the brigades existing beaters & buckets, and the slip-on tank that firemen would load onto to the back of their own truck. At the time of presentation the rural brigade was still operating out of the Police station and there was no room for this vehicle to be stored.
It was decided by the Urban brigade that "The Lady Don" would be moved out of the Heales St fire station to allow for this unit to be stationed.

 


1972 TK Bedford Tanker
Affectionately named 'Herbie', the 1972 Bedford tanker was purchased by the brigade on the 16-4-1997 to work alongside the brigade's main tanker.
In 2001 the CFA decommissioned the
Bedford tanker due to their 20 year vehicle age requirement.
Herbie was no longer allowed to officially attend fires unless it was purely just carrying water.
Later that year the Bedford was sold to a
farmer as a private fire fighting unit.

 

     

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