Four new fire engines are responding to emergencies in South Yorkshire for the first time, in the first stage of a multi-million pound investment by the county’s fire and rescue service.

The £280,000 vehicles are greener, cleaner and more reliable than South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue’s existing fire engine fleet, which is nearing the end of its operational life.

The first four fire engines are to be based at Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Central (Sheffield) fire stations- with a further 24 fire vehicles on course to arrive over the next five years.

Deputy Chief Fire Officer Tony Carlin, said: “The new vehicles represent the very latest best practice for the fire and rescue sector nationally- demonstrating our commitment to providing South Yorkshire’s firefighters with the best equipment possible.

“Cleaner engines and better fuel efficiency support our sustainability objectives, whilst wipe down cabs illustrate how seriously we take the issue of fire contaminants potentially affecting our frontline crews.

“Importantly, we will be keeping hold of some of our older vehicles as spares, as these new fire engines come into services. This will increase the resilience of our 999 response, should we face periods of exceptional demand- as we did during the heatwave last July.”

The new fire engines have been built by Yorkshire-based Angloco, with an all-aluminium body, Scania chassis and 320 horsepower engines.

They are fitted with Euro emission standard engines and are more fuel efficient than the existing fleet- thereby reducing their environmental impact.

The cabs are wipe clean- reducing the risk of toxic contaminants to firefighters.

Godiva pumps draw water from hydrants and vehicles are fitted with 22mm hose reels with selectable flow branches- allowing firefighters to get more than 230 litres of water per minute onto a fire.

New battery powered cutting gear is carried on each appliance- with the equipment more powerful and faster to use.

The delivery of the fire engines was delayed by a few months because of global supply chain issues affecting the vehicle manufacturing sector, but the remaining vehicles will now be delivered in batches of four in the coming months and years.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue has a fleet of 27 full-sized, frontline fire engines, spread across its 21 fire stations.