Austral Denning FirePac

Updated 18 June 2024 to celebrate it's 30th birthday.

In 2024 the No. 322 Austral Denning ASV Firepac, now on display in the museum, will celebrate its 30th birthday; officially qualifying it for historic conditional registration in New South Wales. In honour of this milestone, we would like to look back on the history of its design, construction and service in the NSW Fire Brigades (now Fire and Rescue NSW).

This blog was originally posted in the lead up to the Museum's Heritage Day in 2021.

We’re getting closer and closer to the Museum’s Heritage Day on November 21st! We’ll be pulling vehicles out of storage as voted on by you, so we thought we would take the opportunity to deep dive into one of these featured vehicles.

Poster from the Museum’s collection of the NSW Fire Brigades’ (now Fire and Rescue NSW) Firepac.

This week, we’re taking a look at the Austral Denning Firepac FB3500. You’d be forgiven for being unfamiliar with Austral, a company which has gone by several other names at different points in history and operated only from 1945 to 1998.

The company started up in 1945 and was originally named Athol Hedges. It was then renamed Domino Hedges, then Domino, before being renamed Austral in 1982 when it was purchased by the Australian Manufacturing Group. Austral’s greatest rival in the coach market was Denning. The owners of Denning, Jaguar Rover Australia, bought Austral in 1988 and the companies operated separately until combining and rebranding as Austral Denning in 1992. In 1996, the Jaguar Rover Australia company was sold to the Clifford Corporation and the company rebranded as Austral Pacific before closing down in 1998.

In the 1980s, there was a growing discontent within members of the Queensland fire services over health and safety issues related to the design and construction of fire appliances, namely access issues. Leading up to this, firefighting crews would sit on or in the rear of the vehicle. With the transition of relocating crews to the cab, there were some design issues that required tweaking and fresh ideas. The goal was to ensure that the crew had safe and easy access to the cab without compromising the room available for equipment in the rear of the vehicle. Austral set out to resolve these issues in their design of the Austral Denning Firepac. The company was unique in that they had begun to design and build these appliances solely from the ground up as fire vehicles, rather than working off standard truck chassis designs.

Austral began the design process in 1988, drawing heavily on the 1981 Cougar ARFF vehicle for the cab area design and on the Tourmaster coach for the basic engineering for the chassis and suspension. Initially, the goals set for this design were:

• Engine: diesel 165-185 kW

• Power to weight ratio: 17kW/ton min

• Transmission: auto with top gear lockup or engine driven PTO

• 0-65 km/hr in 20 secs

• Max speed: 110 km/hr

• Water capacity: 1500 (pumper); 3500 (tanker)

• Pump outputs: 2200, 3400, or 4800 l/min

• Pump: centre or rear mounted; simultaneous high- and low-pressure discharge; optional foam induction; two hose reels; roof monitor

• Cabin: Walk-in 2+4 seating; 2 seats with built in BA equipment

• Body: rear structure all in aluminium, roof access, ladder stowage.
  

An early sketch of the Austral Denning Firepac from 1988

The first known public airing of the proposal took place in May 1989, when Austral started a series of presentations about a product to be named ‘Firepak’, then in the early stages of concept planning, to Fire Service industry stakeholders in Australia and New Zealand.

Second phase ’Operator Clinics’ were held in 1989, by which time the name of the vehicle had become ‘Firepac’. These clinics aimed to test the designs of the vehicle amongst operations and maintenance personnel, and to collect feedback by which the concepts and outcomes of the first series could be assessed. Austral then set to work on a second series incorporating this feedback. Some of the original goals were tweaked to become:

• Chassis: Austral integral space frame, all steel construction

• Cabin: Low entry monocoque, steel and composite panelling, two outward sliding plug doors

• Suspension: Air suspension with adjustable ride height and service mode

• Engine: Detroit 8.2 litre, 230 HP (171 kW)

• Transmission: Allison MTB647 with hydraulic retarder

• Fire pump: Mid-mount Hale single stage, or series parallel; high pressure hose reel pump

• Weight: Operational – 11,500 kg; GVM 15,000 kg
  

In the same year, Austral incorporated this to create the first prototype of the Firepac. It was 8.5m in length and sat on a 4m wheelbase. It made its first public appearance at the South Pacific Fire Conference in Auckland NZ in February 1990 and made at least one demonstration visit to Sydney, stopping off at Katoomba fire station and Greenacre workshops.

Concept drawing for the Austral Denning Firepac Mk 3, 1995.

The first generation vehicles were considered too long for general use, so in 1992 Austral released a second generation of Firepacs to address this (known as the ‘Mk 3’ 3000 model). In this second generation, the vehicle length was shortened by compacting the cabin, which was hugely beneficial around CBD areas. However, Austral hadn’t yet arrived at the Firepac in the Museum’s collection which is a Firepac ‘Mk 3’ 3500 model. This model had only minor tweaks from the 3000 model such as a differently shaped bumper and a new way to install rear-view mirrors.

The NSW Fire Brigade (now Fire and Rescue NSW) became interested in the Firepac design, mainly due to the potential OH&S advantages the walk-in cab had over conventional climb in truck chassis. In 1992, they purchased 30 of the Austral Special Vehicle Firepac FB3000, citing occupational safety for firefighters as a leading principle in the specification process. The first unit was delivered in March 1993 and was allocated to the Alexandria Training College for operational evaluation and initial crew familiarisation. An official acceptance took place at the Training College on 5th April.

A second order was placed with Austral in 1994 for a further 21 units. Major bushfires around NSW in early January 1994 placed considerable strain on the Brigades’ vehicle resources. Completion of this order was expedited to enable them to be placed into immediate service. Another order was placed with Austral in 1996 for 21 units.

Firepac Pumper and Bronto repairing damage in Alexandria following the hail storm, 1999.

This particular appliance is an Austral Denning ASV Model Firepac 3500 No. 322. It’s a motor fire engine, pumper, with integral chassis and body, powered by 6 cyl Cummins diesel engine, Godiva UMPX centrifugal pump fitted at rear, and is driven by gearbox. It was built in QLD, Australia.

This appliance began its career in 1994 at Fairfield where it served for 8 years before being transferred to Mortdale in 2002. The appliance served as a spare starting in 2011 and then became a training vehicle for junior firefighters in 2014. It was eventually withdrawn in September, 2015, after 21 years of service.

A selection of fire vehicles from the Museum’s collection will be on display at the Museum’s upcoming Heritage Day. These vehicles have been specially voted on by the public, so if you enjoyed this blog, come down to the Museum on Sunday 21st November for a rare sight of vehicles that normally aren’t on display. Keep your eyes peeled and you’ll be able to spot the Firepac!

For information on the upcoming Heritage Day click here:

https://www.museumoffire.net/heritage-display-days

-Story by Museum of Fire Engagement Team