Fleet Maintenance Centre (FMC)

Each vehicle in the fleet is subject to a 12-monthly routine major service on a rolling basis. However, this is not just one service as an appliance will have as many as six separate services:

• Mechanical
• Body
• Electrical (vehicle and some equipment)
• Major pump
• Generator and.or Light Portable Pump (LPP)
• All the appliance ladders

In addition, any outstanding defects or accident damage will be dealt with and this may include equipment stowage upgrades/modifications.

The 3-month service consists of a safety inspection where our technicians have a checklist to complete and report any defects they find to their supervisor.

All servicing is carried out to the Chief Fire Officers' Association (CFOA) 'Recommended Best Practice for the Maintenance of Fire Service Vehicles' and comply with HMI 'Expectations' manual for maintenance and performance.

Qualified staff

All our technicians have gained a relevant apprenticeship, many 'in-house' and as part of the Service Performance Development Review (PDR) process maintain their skills and encouraged to add new ones.

The engineers attend both VOSA and IRTEC courses recommended by CFOA and qualifies each technician as a MoT tester for fire appliances.

Our technicians attend a variety of manufacturers' courses, such as Volvo, Godiva and AS Fire for ladder maintenance and servicing.

All reported defects are passed by the users to Control staff who allocate a specific reference number and pass on the defect to Workshops or the Duty Supervisor 'out of hours'.

A decision is made as to the category of defect based on the vehicle's ability to continue its availability to respond to emergencies:

• If an immediate response is required, a technician will be dispatched, using a dedicated vehicle.
• If the defect affects the vehicle's operational ability, but it is still able to respond, the defect will usually be attended to by the end of the next working day.
• Defects of a minor nature may be left until the vehicle's 12-month service, 3-month safety service or when a technician attends to another vehicle defect at the station.

Fit-out

The Workshops fit-out seven front-line appliances annually, usually a combination of Water Tenders and Water Tender Ladders. The knock-on effect of this is that as many as 14 appliances will need refurbishment, and appliances due for disposal are stripped of all equipment and stowage.

Prior to the arrival of the first new appliance, our technicians will manufacture the stowage components in kit form to enable a quick turnaround and issue to the receiving station.

Refurbishment

Workshop technicians also upgrade and refurbish existing vehicles in the fleet to bring them up to the latest specification.

This can sometimes involve a complete change of role, ie changing from a Water Tender to a Water Tender Ladder (or vice versa). This can involve many hours of construction work by the technicians as they revamp lockers and stowage

Depending on the need and financial position of the Service, the Workshop will also be asked to fit-out several 'specials', Landrover, Special Equipment Units, etc, during the year.

Vehicles for emerging foreign governments

A little known side of the work carried out at Workshops is that of preparing appliances, which are reaching the end of their service life with HFRS, as gifts for emerging foreign governments. Examples of this work include

• supplying a Bedford appliance to the Bosnian VATRA I SPAS in June 1999, and
• despatching a Bedford WrT A33 OPX and Landrover L4P A337 RBK to the Gambia from Tilbury Docks in 2002

As with all aspects of the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, everything we do at Workshops has 'Best Value' in mind.

The skills we have at the Workshop are considerable and we receive several enquiries during the year from other organisations asking if we could service or repair their vehicles or equipment. We would love to do it all, unfortunately, we have not got the capacity.

Our first priority is to the HFRS and its fleet, however, now that we have started to plan our workload we are able to identify 'windows of opportunity' to do some of the work.

The organisations involved include Hampshire Police, Hampshire BASICS doctors, Esso, Marchwood Military Port and the Atomic Weapons Establishment.

Following the success of the Best Value Review, a business case was made to improve the facilities at Winnall. Combined with the Service need to move Winchester fire station, the Fire Authority agreed plans to build a new Workshop facility at the Service Headquarters site in Eastleigh.

This major development provides the opportunity for many improvements in work practices that, in turn, will reduce the time appliances, etc spend 'off the run' at Workshops.