During the winter of 2002/2003, the majority of Great Britain's firefighters took part in a series of strikes in pursuit of a pay claim. During the strikes basic fire cover was provided by 19,000 soldiers, sailors and airmen crewing over 800 Bedford 4x4 Emergency Pumps (known as Green Goddesses and dating from the early 1950s; they were originally built to pump water and fight fires following a nuclear attack) supported by specially trained personnel crewing approximately 330 Breathing Apparatus Rescue Team (BART) vehicles and approximately 60 Rescue Equipment Support Team vehicles. The Green Goddesses (later supplemented by newer Red Goddesses) were used solely for firefighting while the BARTs carried SCBA and basic rescue tools; in addition to SCBA, the RESTs were also equipped with more powerful hydraulic rescue tools, chemical protection suits and a decontamination shower. All appliances were escorted to incidents by the police.

Geraint Robert's model is based on a Ford Transit double-cab pick-up truck by Rietze. The model needed five coats of white paint while painting the small blue oval Ford badge on the bonnet was a challenge - Geraint applied the paint using a cocktail stick! He made the stripes from decal sheet while the green Compressed Gas warning diamond symbol is a Herpa decal. Geraint's father made the R.A.F. roundel by scanning a 1/48th scale decal and printing it on decal sheet. Geraint repositioned the steering wheel to represent right-hand drive and made the mini light bar by cutting a standard light bar in two. The equipment came from his spares box and consists of a generator and floodlights, spade, fuel can, bag of absorbent granules and three spare SCBA cylinders. The two large boxes represent the covered metal cages used to hold the bulk of the rescue equipment, chemical suits and shower.

Posted October 3, 2004