Catering trailer

[mengcfs]

Any Brigades or Units out there have catering trailer, like a 6x4 or 5x7 they use for local/group incidents?
My Brigade is thinking of setting one up and any ideas are good ideas.

[rescue5271]

Tatiara group have the best set up Adam, hold 250 meals 24/7 and get's a good work out when the Park goes up....My group was going to do one but it has fallen to the side of the raod for some reason...

[Mic10110]

been told Light Group have a pretty good one

[CFS_Firey]

I recall East Torrens group having a pretty good trailer set up a few years ago too...

[Pipster]

Nope, don't remember East Torrens having one....   :|

Tea Tree Gully have a BBQ trailer, with an ice box.....   I think East Torrens might have grabbed it many years ago for a fire.... ?

Pip

[bittenyakka]

East Torrens have a few members who have somewhat home made trailers that are rather capable  of feeding alot of people.

[jaff]

East Torrens have a few members who have somewhat home made trailers that are rather capable  of feeding alot of people.

??????

[bittenyakka]

oh jaff you should know,

[CFS_Firey]

Nope, don't remember East Torrens having one....   :|

Tea Tree Gully have a BBQ trailer, with an ice box.....   I think East Torrens might have grabbed it many years ago for a fire.... ?

Pip

Sounds like the one I remember, so that would be right! :)

[bajdas]

I would suggest talk to the Salvos about their trailers.

Many, many years ago I worked with a team that modified a old Civil Defence metal canopy trainer. Very heavy but modern equivalents of metal covered tradesman trailers exist now.

Was built so that the trailer roof replaced a tent pole in the marquee. Thus one side of the trailer was serving/preparation inside of the tent (with a tresel table) and the other side was cooking area outside of the tent.

The cooking area had a small shelter area that could be erected and was near a tent doorway for entrance. The drawbar with gas cylinders was outside of the tent for safety.

I cannot remember where the small generator & lighting bank were stored. Needed good lighting in the tent and the trailer had work lights inbuilt on the lift up wind doors of the trailer.

Tresel tables were transported on top of the trailer.

Now you could add a deep cycle rechargable battery, 240v charger & LED lighting

They never could work out the weight issue & so were limited in water carry capacity for washing/drinking. Also, in those days eskies were used with ice in the towing vehicle. Now you would have a 3-way fridge/freezer in the towing vehicle.

Then the infamous EMU Bus was built by Mitcham SES.

I would suggest the design will depend on what vehicles will be towing the trailer so that you get the weight correct and go for a tandem trailer if you can. More stable to work from when back jacks are lowered.

[misterteddy]

more heavy and overweight, badly load distributed, poor handling and OHS nightmare to work from trailers .... coming to a 21st Century Fire Service near you

Leave food for the Salvos and Traffic Cones (it's a term of affection....no really) to organise. If you can't get food after 5 hours, call a replacement crew and go eat properly.

[bajdas]

more heavy and overweight, badly load distributed, poor handling and OHS nightmare to work from trailers .... coming to a 21st Century Fire Service near you

Leave food for the Salvos and Traffic Cones (it's a term of affection....no really) to organise. If you can get food after 5 hours, call a replacement crew and go eat properly.

Agreed. Majority of major incidents now have a commercial or home kitchen to prepare meals within a few hours drive of the incident. Then they are transported to site in eskies to keep hot or cold.

But years ago the catering trailers/EMU were used for fundraising because we did not have much Council or State Government support. Times have now changed..

[mengcfs]

Thanks for the input people.

The trailer is intended for local catering.  Fairly certain the Salvos won't respond to a three or four Brigade job  :wink:

We currently load the BBQ and other essentials onto our pump trailer and want a dedicated local catering trailer.

Please keep any suggestions coming and if anyone has photos (besides what's on the Promo unit website) please contact me.

Cheers.

[Bagyassfirey]

miegel brothers do make a nice BBQ trailer

[Burnover]

CFA catering trailer

http://www.cfaconnect.net.au/news/narre-warren-catering-trailer.html

[pumprescue]

The way we figure it, we have 12 hr ration packs, thats got enough nice goodies in it to keep us happy. Worse case we will tell someone at the station to bring some extra food out if we really need it.

Only wish we had a coffee machine on the trucks.....

We do have the luxury of being able to order pretty much any food we can think of 24/7.

In fact our group doesn't have any catering equipment anymore, either hot packs or take away subways.

[rescue5271]

You can now order hot pack coffee just like the hot pack food meals and from what people tell me its not a bad cup of coffee.

[bajdas]

With a 'remote from kitchen' catering setup, how do you go meeting the current OH&S and food hygiene laws ?

During the Vic Floods, the commercial caterers were indicating that their responsibilities ended when the food was delivered in eskies to the ICC. Especially when the eskies were loaded into SES 4wds for transport to the field location.

Is this paranoia or common sense ??

[mengcfs]

Unless everyone is trained in food prep, you don't.
No different to someone rocking up on site with a BBQ and cooking for the troops.

Red tape does make it difficult.

[bittenyakka]

It is common sense for the comercial provider. They need to protect themselves.


in saying that i think food storage is an important issue that we probably don't pay enough atytention to, i remember the Cheese in the sandwiches on KI going really funny by lunch time...

[misterteddy]

You can now order hot pack coffee just like the hot pack food meals and from what people tell me its not a bad cup of coffee.

call me old fashioned.....but remember those things we used to have next to the canvas beaters and perculating hose in the shed..... what were they called again??... ahh thats right.... a BILLY. With the advent of modern technology you can even get them with a spout so u dont spill them everywhere. A little $20 gas stove thingy tucked away under the seat away from any danger and you have a brew whenever you want one.

[rescue5271]

Sometime ago when on strike team into MT BOLD one of the Victor tankers had a BILLY and GAS bottle set up this was stored in its locker i have a photo some where of the set up...

[mengcfs]

call me old fashioned.....but remember those things we used to have next to the canvas beaters and perculating hose in the shed..... what were they called again??... ahh thats right.... a BILLY. With the advent of modern technology you can even get them with a spout so u dont spill them everywhere. A little $20 gas stove thingy tucked away under the seat away from any danger and you have a brew whenever you want one.

We have this set up.....takes effing ages to boil, but at least Group can't whinge about the cost!....and we get a cuppa!