Retired and current firefighters (from left) John Massey, Marty Benton, Ron Seconi, Mick Hills, Gary Wilson, Laurie King, Fred Meredith and (at rear) Jes Sorensen are restoring WF7.
Retired and current firefighters (from left) John Massey, Marty Benton, Ron Seconi, Mick Hills, Gary Wilson, Laurie King, Fred Meredith and (at rear) Jes Sorensen are restoring WF7.
The bro' and I were fire brigade kids.
The fire station was our second home, "the boys" (no female firefighters back in the day) were Dad's other family and Mum project-managed our family life around Dad's 8am-6pm and 6pm-8am shifts.
There was lots of social activity at the fire station and, to the envy of our friends, we got to hang out in, on and around fire engines.
Fast forward to January 2018 and I hear a whisper that an old fire truck is bringing a tear to the eye of some of Dad's old workmates. And I discover that one of the trucks we played on as little kids is a collector's item.
WF7 has returned to the Whanganui fire station in a sorry state.
It's dented and battered. Its gold leaf pinstriping is faded. Its siren has been stolen. It's definitely not red and shiny.
But, after years in the wilderness, aka Hamilton and an Auckland paddock, WF7 (the truck's Wanganui Fire Brigade number) has come home to Whanganui.
As well as his day job with Fire and Emergency New Zealand, Bryan Barkla is the historian for the Wanganui Fire Brigade and he's keen to share WF7's story.
Thousands of people turned out for the Wanganui Fire Brigade's centennial street parade in 1966.
"It's a Dennis F3 which is very rare – there were only nine ever made. As far as we know there are only four left and this is the only one in New Zealand. There's one in Melbourne and two in England.
"The Wanganui Fire Brigade took delivery of it in 1947. It arrived as a cab and chassis and AP Bert Tonks in Whanganui East built the bodywork."
The truck remained in service for 30 years before being replaced by the first of the International trucks in late 1977. WF7 left Whanganui in about 1978.
"It was given to Motat [Museum of Transport and Technology Auckland] on the understanding it could go to a museum in Hamilton for a short time to start with. Unfortunately it received quite severe damage in Hamilton and when it got to Motat they didn't have the money to fix the damage. It got parked in a paddock and slowly deteriorated."
One of the last jobs for WF7 was the Meat Packers fire at Castlecliff in 1977.
In about 2008 volunteers at Motat attempted some restoration and did a lot of work on the engine, wheels and brakes. Then it all went quiet.
Fast forward to November 2017 and Bryan is driving between Whanganui and Rotorua when his phone rings.
"Out of the blue I received a call from one of Motat's staff and they offered the truck back to us. At that point we hadn't seen it so we didn't know what sort of condition it was in. We had a talk about it and the consensus was that we would take it."
WF7 arrived in Whanganui on a transporter on December 10 and it took eight or nine people to push the heavy truck into the appliance bay at the fire station.
Despite the restoration efforts, WF7 was in a sorry state but a team of mostly-retired Whanganui firefighters is now on a mission to restore it to its former glory.
"There are some parts missing. The siren on the bonnet and some other bits have been stolen off it. We're not happy with some of the restoration that's been done – for example, they've used plywood for some of the wooden boxes – so it will be put back to how it was originally."
Bryan Barkla is one of the team leading the charge to restore WF7, a rare Dennis F3 fire engine.
But it's not all bad news.
"There's no rust anywhere that needs to be cut out. It's made of really thick steel. It's still got its huge engine and Motat has already done some restoration on that.
"We've got a siren coming from the United States from a guy who restores sirens. He had one exactly the same as was on it."
A committee has been set up to oversee and govern the restoration and fundraising.
"They are pretty much all past members who rode on the truck at some point or drove it.
"We don't know yet how much the restoration will cost but the indication we've had is $50,000 to $60,000. Unfortunately, a lot of it isn't work we can do ourselves. We've split the restoration into work groups for mechanical, electrical, paint and panel, pump and cabinetmakers. The groups will get costings for their area of work and then we'll know where to go from here with funding applications.
"Eaton and Marshall [now Roy Eaton Automotive] would have done all the work on it when it was in service so we'll use them again and there'll be lots of work for other local businesses.
"The gold on the truck is gold leaf and we intend to put gold leaf back on so that will cost us."
Fundraising is off to a good start with a $5000 donation from one person already.
Once the restoration is complete, the truck will be available for community events such as parades. It is also likely to be used for firefighters' funerals.
Bryan says one thing is for sure.
"It's home to stay. Lots of other people would like to get their hands on it but the brigade has decided this is theirs and it's come home."
Dennis Bros Ltd, established by John and Raymond Dennis in 1901 in Surrey, England, is a well-known manufacturer of fire engines.
In 1895 John Dennis opened his 'little cycle shop' in Guildford. He was joined by his brother Raymond and they began producing bicycles then expanded into motor tricycles, a motor quadricycle and cars. The business next moved into producing buses, followed by vans, trucks and fire engines. They went on to make ambulances, cesspool and gully emptiers, refuse vehicles, lawnmowers and trailer fire pumps.
As well as supplying fire services around the world, Dennis fire engines were used by industrial fire brigades including those at Rowntrees of York and Cadbury Bros' chocolate factories. The Cadbury F3, used in the company's Bournville Works near Birmingham, England, is one of the surviving Dennis F3s.
In late 1947 the [Wanganui Fire] Board took delivery of a new Dennis F3 with a Meadows engine. This straight six cylinder engine had a capacity of 9.5 litres and developed 128hp with a fuel consumption of only five miles per gallon.
The brigade has in its possession the chassis and body plans as supplied by the New Zealand Express Company Ltd from Dennis Brothers in England and with specifications that show the framing was built of Southland Beech and the flooring of six inch tongue and groove kauri. Kauri was also stipulated to be used in the making of the hose boxes, back step and the driver's compartment. The hose lockers were made waterproof and with flush type handles fitted to the doors. Rubber matting was laid around all the edges and the pump had a cover made for it which was chrome-plated. The specifications stated that the body-boxes were to be pinstriped in gold leaf, if it was procurable.
(Reproduced with permission from Wanganui Fire Brigade 150 Years of Service, by Bryan H Barkla)
There are very few photos of WF7 in action but the ones that exist mark some significant events in the Wanganui Fire Brigade's history.
CFO Matt Morton's funeral
Chief Fire Officer Matthew Morton collapsed and died while attending a fire in Campbell St on 19 February 1968, shocking the brigade and the community. He was given a brigade funeral with full honours, with WF7 used to transport the coffin. Mr Morton, who was appointed Chief Fire Officer of the Wanganui Brigade in 1957, is one of two firefighters who have died while on call-outs in Whanganui.
Wanganui Fire Brigade centennial parade
The Wanganui Fire Brigade celebrated its 100th year over a weekend in May 1966. Thousands of people lined the main city streets to watch a parade of fire appliances, including WF7, representing each decade from 1866. The street parade was repeated the next day with another large turnout of spectators. A display and demonstration in the fire station yard had to be modified when 2000 people crammed into the space to watch.
At 12.15 on Saturday, 14 May 1977, a devastating fire broke out in the premises of Meat Packers Ltd at Castlecliff. One of the company's electricians discovered the fire and with other members of the staff attempted to extinguish it. It was nearly 40 minutes later that a decision was made to call the brigade but by the time they arrived it was obvious to all that they had a formidable task on their hands to contain it.
The All Black trials were on at Spriggens Park that afternoon and so an appeal was made over the public address system for all off-duty firemen to report to the station, however the request fell on deaf ears. The Ratana Brigade responded and, on their way, they stopped at the Spriggens Park gates to collect a full crew but again without success.
With the passing of the Fire Services Act in 1975, the Chief Fire Officer had become the Commander of Area 3B which gave him far more scope to call up reinforcements. Within the hour appliances were arriving from Palmerston North, Marton, Ratana and Waitotara. Eight pumps and 90 firemen were set to work tackling the fire on all sides.
The 80-year-old building had large quantities of tar-impregnated cork insulation and, along with animal fat, turned the building into a blazing torch and a column of smoke that could be seen for miles. The unseparated roof void allowed the fire to spread rapidly. The ceiling collapsed and fractured ammonia pipes released fumes to keep onlookers back at a respectful distance. Between the floors was also a void to provide air to the chillers and the fire made use of these also in its relentless search for fuel.
Access to the various levels on fire was very difficult due to the sheer physical size and layout of the premises, not to mention the access problems caused by the 1.5 metres thick layer of pumice used to insulate the top of the chillers. Leaking ammonia created a hazard resulting in a number of firefighters suffering from ammonia rashes and necessitated the evacuation of the crowd who were standing nearby.
(Reproduced with permission from Wanganui Fire Brigade 150 Years of Service, by Bryan H Barkla)
