Defender 90 Fire Truck Pics

Golden Oliver

Golden Oliver

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Dec 12, 2005
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Ohio
I know some of you have seen this D90 before, but I wanted others to see a unique Defender.....

I live about 4 miles from the Granville Fire Dept. and see this D90 about every day. It is located in Granville, Ohio about 25 miles east of Columbus. It has a custom built water tank and equipment rack. Two Hella 4000s, siren, cb, warn winch and a few other sweet mods. It was bought by the Granville FD because it was narrow and allowed them to access a bike path to extinguish grass/brush fires. The FD used to have a nice Willys J**p before the D90 showed up. Check out this link to pangaea - expeditions for more pics of this awsome rover. Note the "Taz" on the side. Haha.

http://www.pangaea-expeditions.com/galleries/firetruck/index.html

Oh yeah...this D90 HAS been off-road. It has been to several local rover events over the years.
 

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antichrist

antichrist

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Nice, but to be honest, unless it was donated, it really seems a poor expediture to get a D90 for a brush truck. That's speaking as a former vol firefighter, where every $ was hard to come by.
 
Golden Oliver

Golden Oliver

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Dec 12, 2005
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Ohio
Those of you familiar with Granville already know that they have plenty of this.....
 

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flyfisher11

flyfisher11

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May 25, 2005
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Wolf Laurel NC
antichrist said:
Nice, but to be honest, unless it was donated, it really seems a poor expediture to get a D90 for a brush truck. That's speaking as a former vol firefighter, where every $ was hard to come by.
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On the contrary. I think the PR aspect alone can bring in some attention to the fire department along with some money. As a former forest service firefighter myself I would rather depend on a defender than some of the old jeep brush trucks we had. It would also make a great smoke chaser vehicle too, but that is forest service stuff.

Cheers,

Mike
 
antichrist

antichrist

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Sep 7, 2004
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I think you could make a very dependable Jeep brush truck for a lot less that $20 - $25k.
Our dept had a 56 deuce and a half I buoght for $200 from the Gov disposal depot. Drove it home from Richmond to Nothern VA. While that was alot larger and not suitable for a small place like the defender, FD's can get stuff super cheap. I'm not sure about the PR value to anyone other that Land Rover owners.
 
flyfisher11

flyfisher11

Well-known member
May 25, 2005
8,676
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61
Wolf Laurel NC
antichrist said:
I think you could make a very dependable Jeep brush truck for a lot less that $20 - $25k.
Our dept had a 56 deuce and a half I buoght for $200 from the Gov disposal depot. Drove it home from Richmond to Nothern VA. While that was alot larger and not suitable for a small place like the defender, FD's can get stuff super cheap. I'm not sure about the PR value to anyone other that Land Rover owners.
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My perspective as to the the value of the Defender being a great brush truck or smoke chaser is based on my narrow experience of fighting fires in the mountains of western N.C. Such a narrow capable truck would be great for that terrain. A deuce and a half, in my opinion, is just a little big for where I used to work.
 
Golden Oliver

Golden Oliver

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Dec 12, 2005
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Ohio
It wasn't donated. Money aside...I think it is a sweet looking vehicle and it is nice to see a Defender on duty in a fire and rescue role.

I also don't recall hearing any grumblings or objections from the people who ACTUALLY paid for it.
 
A

alex3324

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Oct 19, 2004
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Valhalla I am coming home!
I would wager a guess that the modified D90 costs about the same (maybe less) as a purpose-built brush truck - and is far more capable than most of the 'brush' equipment I see sitting in the firehouses in the states.
 
antichrist

antichrist

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Sep 7, 2004
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Atlanta, GA
Golden Oliver said:
It wasn't donated. Money aside...I think it is a sweet looking vehicle and it is nice to see a Defender on duty in a fire and rescue role.
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Yup, money aside I agree 100%
I also don't recall hearing any grumblings or objections from the people who ACTUALLY paid for it.
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I should hope not.

alex3324 said:
I would wager a guess that the modified D90 costs about the same (maybe less) as a purpose-built brush truck - and is far more capable than most of the 'brush' equipment I see sitting in the firehouses in the states.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I would agree. I came from a dept that could only afford to buy second and third hand vehicles so we learned how you could get equipment on a shoe string and build it ourselves to have something just capable as something that was purpose built, just wasn't as fancy looking. Obviously not all departments have that concern.
 
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D

DISCOINCUBUS

Guest
rmuller said:
Real nice!

Down at the Jersey shore a few years ago, at least 3 or 4 of the rescue departments had H1's... so I don't think a D90 is that bad of a expenditure.
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The big difference i think is reliability especially for a rescue vehicle that is on call 24/7 , no contest the milspec diesel hummer is the way to go even if a small municipality has to pay for it by cutting costs on non essential's.
 
Golden Oliver

Golden Oliver

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Dec 12, 2005
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Ohio
The pangaea web site (link above) with the pics of the D90 mentions that the FD considered a H1....but opted for the D90. The Willys J**p they used to have was cool...but became unreliable.
 
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