Hungarian disaster relief services have received 63 new vehicles in an ongoing modernization program of their technical equipment, conservative daily Magyar Hírlap reports.
“These new vehicles facilitate the work of professional firefighters and voluntary emergency services, thereby contributing to the safety of lives and property,” Károly Kontrát, State Secretary at the Ministry of Interior, said at the July 15 ceremony. “In 2010, the Hungarian government promised to restore safety. Partly due to the ongoing equipment purchases, Hungary is now one of the safest countries in Europe,” he added.
The new vehicles can be used for general firefighting, some are specially equipped for fighting forest fires, yet others are suited for technical rescue and some will serve as mobile command posts.
The most versatile vehicles in the new fleet are Hungarian made Komondor trucks – named after a local dog variety – and come in several configurations. The trucks have 11.8 liter diesel engines, have comprehensive armor resistant to most types of explosions that occur in civilian life and have 360-degree camera systems. The front part is identical in all variants, while the back can accommodate a firefighting or a technical rescue module.
The other batch of vehicles consist of Volkswagen Amarok pickup trucks custom-equipped for disaster relief purposes. Kontrát said that Hungary has recently spent HUF 6.1 billion (€17.23 million) on new vehicles for emergency services while the current upgrade has cost HUF 1.6 billion (€4.52 million). The purchase was jointly financed from the ministry’s budget and European Union funds.
Title image: Hungarian-made Komondor multi-purpose fire truck. (MTI/Péter Lakatos)
