Airport fire service welcomes new truck

Nelson Airport's fire service welcomed their new $1.4 million truck on Thursday, which was highlighted by a demonstration of its firefighting capabilities and a water salute.

The Rosenbauer Panther fire truck, named Flick, is a state-of-the-art machine that meets the specialist nature of airport firefighting operations.

Flick is set up to deliver foam and water within seconds of arrival at an incident, features that are not standard for other emergency firefighting vehicles.

The truck can carry up to three times as much water and two-and-a-half times as much foam as their previous truck, and it can all be controlled from the driver's seat.

While training will be required for the crew before the new truck comes into full operation.

Nelson Airport chief executive Mark Thompson says Flick will give Nelson Airport's Rescue Fire Service state of the art specialist airport firefighting capability, as well as providing greater protection for the firefighters if responding to events.

"Our airport firefighters are an essential component of ensuring safe operations for every operator and traveler using Nelson Airport, and they can respond within minutes in the event of any incident requiring emergency support."

The truck will also be used as an emergency response asset for the entire Nelson-Tasman region when required,  working with FENZ on making Flick available for regional emergency response without compromising the safety of airport operations.

Flick's name came from a public competition and judging by the Tasman Mako and representatives from the Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring programme.

To reduce costs, Flick was purchased as part of a bulk order by several collaborating airports.