BISHOP’S Castle has taken delivery of an upgraded fire engine.

The arrival of the XL Cab brings towards an end a £1 million campaign by Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service to upgrade appliances operating from the county’s 23 fire stations.

It was a project close to the heart of Chief Fire Officer Alan Taylor, who retires at the end of June after overseeing the major three-year campaign.

“I am really pleased that rural Shropshire now has the best possible fire and rescue equipment to protect the people of the county and save lives,” said Mr Taylor after handing over the final fire truck to Bishops Castle’s 13 firefighters.

“These state-of-the-art firefighting vehicles offer a better cost effective service to those in need of our emergency service, taking up to nine fire fighters to an incident while giving the chance for more retained firefighters to gain experience.

“I am very proud to hand over the final fire appliance to our crew at Bishop’s Castle.”

Watch manager Tracy Magill said that it would mean that the town's fire crew now had more resources to deal with incidents.

“There will be more firefighters on board and more resources when we are called out. It also means that more firefighters will be able to gain experience of fire and rescue techniques.”

The previous fire truck, which carried just six firefighters, meant that some personnel were left at the fire station unable to go out on the emergency call despite racing to the Church Lane fire station.

Bishop’s Castle is the 19th station to receive an upgrade and the final ‘one pump’ fire station to receive an XL cab, which replaced a 12-year-old engine.

More hi-tech equipment is carried on board to quickly cut people free whhen they are trapped in the wreckage of their cars after a crash.

For more information about becoming a retained firefighter, contact Shrewsbury fire headquarters on 01743 260200 or visit.shropshire fire.gov.uk.