LANCASHIRE Fire Service is investing nearly £5 million in new fire engines.

The service has initially bought ten new Euro-6 DAF LF 250 FAs costing a total of £1.9 million to replace the long-serving DAF fleet.

Two of those appliances will be based in East Lancashire and a fire service spokesman said they will improve efficiency and allow more space for equipment. Another 15 are on order and will cost the service just over £2.8 million.

One of the £189,000 DAF pumping appliances will be based in Bacup Fire Station, while the other will spend six months in Burnley before going to Blackburn.

A fire service spokesman said: “These new appliances will make the service more efficient and are an upgrade on the vehicles we already have. There’s more room on the engines to store equipment.

“The hose reels are electric so people don’t have to manually roll them up. They are also more fuel-efficient and emissions-compliant to the most stringent levels.”

The service’s head of fleet and engineering services, John Hargreaves, said: “The DAF product is second-to-none.

“We’ve been using them since 1985 and see no reason to change now. Our last fleet of LFs were tough, unfailing and very quick off the mark under blue lights, and it performed flawlessly.

“I’m looking forward to the same performance and longevity from the Euro-6 vehicles.

“Locally, DAF has a very strong presence, and DAF is a significant feature in local authority fleets. That popularity means there’s no risk of brand obsolescence. DAF has excellent credentials in this part of the world, underlined by the comprehensive and super-quick back-up from the DAF dealer at Walton Summit.

“Indeed, the whole DAF aftersales service is excellent. We have access to DAF engineering experts at DAF Trucks in Thame and at the assembly plant in Leyland, and that’s proved a massive help to our in-house workshop activities.”