Our primary operational vehicle is provided by the New Zealand Fire Service. To replace our pump Chartwell 423 with a vehicle more suited to our needs, the NZFS purchased a used Isuzu Elf long wheel base double cab truck from a local yard. Waikato Motor Bodies then removed the flat deck and replaced it with an open box body and lift-up locker doors, volunteer personnel then constructed internal racks and shelving. This vehicle carries a maximum crew of 6 although there is a 7th "jump" seat which is not used. We can in certain circumstances respond with a minimum crew of 2 and if extra personnel are required, once the OC has assessed the incident, they may respond in a single personal vehicle from the station travelling as "normal traffic". New Zealand regulations do not allow personal vehicles to be fitted with emergency response lights or siren. 4226 carries no water or fixed pump, instead it carries our dedicated support equipment and a portable (man-handled) pump which is carried to the water source. In NZFS communications, the first two digits in a callsign are the station number (42 for Chartwell) while the remaining digits identify the type of vehicle (26 for support vehicle).

For the first time in the brigades history, a second appliance is on the cards - with the purchase in 2010 of the ex-Tawa VFB 1985 Mitsubishi FP418JR, plate number MC3847. The vehicle is totally brigade funded through years of fundraising work, and will pass into NZFS ownership as a donated asset upon conversion to operational purposes. Although kitted out primarily as an Emergency Lighting Plant & Power Generation Unit, MC3847 will be large enough to carry a good deal of duplicated capabilities from the current 4226 and will therefore become our front-running appliance. 4226 Will then be relegated to second-running duties which give us a number of significant benefits over relying on the one appliance including; ability to respond to 2 calls at once, ability to send relief crews out for long duration incidents, ability to remain available while an appliance is off the road for servicing, ability to remain available while sending an appliance and crew away to courses, ability to dispatch more than 6 personnel to a call. At this point in time we do not know what the last 2 digits of the callsign for MC3847 will be, although we suspect it may be 19 (e.g. Chartwell 4219) as this generally means special purpose vehicle.

The appliance was built by Mills-Tui as a standard pump and the photo above shows her as purchased by us - still in this configuration. The ELP project will see her stripped of the pump and locker body with a much larger locker body being built in their place. Once completed the appliance will house both a large heavy duty generator and a number of smaller portable generators, Powermoons and other lighting apparatus as well as other general salvage equipment and hand tools. Our full 10.5 metre extension ladder will also be carried, as this is too large and heavy to be carried by the current appliance.

Our original appliance (commonly called fire engines or fire trucks) was withdrawn from use in September 2006 and was also owned and maintained by the NZ Fire Service. This was a 1978 International ACCO 2150B 6/2 medium (urban) pumping appliance. It was originally built as a 6/3 heavy (city) pump and retained the Darley mid-mounted pump and 1350L water tank for this role but had one of the two high pressure hose reels removed and replaced with a portable pump along with other equipment changes. Carrying earlier callsigns of Hamilton 412 and Hamilton 413, the appliance had seating for 6 personnel and carried typical firefighting gear such as suction hoses, a short aluminium extension ladder, 10.5m aluminium extension ladder, 70mm and 45mm delivery hoses, 90mm feeder hoses, Elkhart adjustable branches, 4 Breathing Apparatus sets and 4 spare cylinders plus much more. See Chartwell 4226 for callsign information - the suffixes 1, 2 and 3 are used for standard pumping appliances.

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