Homemade fire truck saves home from burning in bushfire

During the devastating 2019/2020 bushfire season which took out many homes and properties along the south coast of New South Wales, Barry and Delia Holzhauser remained on their property in Cobargo to fight the flames with a home-made fire truck. 

The Holzhauser’s neighbour works for the Rural Fire Brigade and warned them prior to the fire season that a simple sprinkler and hose system will not be enough to keep their home standing as the fires approach. 

Mrs Holzhauser explains how they made their decision to build a fire truck

As the Holzhauser’s chose to stay on their property before the fires begun Barry made the decision to construct his own fire truck to work alongside the already installed sprinkler system in protecting their home against the flames. 

The Holzhauser’s owned a tractor prior to making the fire truck which was used to transport the base of the fire truck, and was capable of carrying everything needed for it to function correctly. 

A box trailer was connected to the rear of the tractor which carried a 1000 litre tank of water.

“We only needed to fill the tank up twice a day, once at the start and again at midday.”

Delia Holzhauser 

The water held by the tank was pumped onto the flames by through the use of a RVC and a petrol pump.

Barry describes the fire truck he built

More about the Holzhauser’s fight against the bushfires can be found here

South Coast town still suffering 6 months post deadly bushfire season