'Green Goddess' Military Fire Engine'

Nuclear technology after World War II presented a catastrophic danger. It was thought that a nuclear attack on Britain would cause a large number of fires, which would overwhelm the ordinary fire service, so a large stock of basic fire engines was ordered to form a reserve capacity. Thousands of these Bedford RLHZs were built to be used by the Auxillary Fire Service in the event of a nuclear war. The vehicles would provide large amounts of water from lakes, rivers and canals to cities struck by nuclear attack. In 2004, the British Government sold its nine hundred vehicles, most of them to to fire brigades in developing countries, mainly in Africa.