The team at ETRUX, a company specialising in vehicle conversions, rental and leasing under the Jans Group, have put their knowledge and skills towards a very worthy cause recently, by converting bespoke vehicles to assist Lagan Search and Rescue (LSAR) during their rescue operations.
Specialising in acute water rescue and offering a lifeboat service for the River Lagan and Belfast Lough and a national flood response unit, the control vehicle and water rescue unit was completed a few weeks ago and will be “instrumental” to the team going forward.
The new control vehicle and water rescue unit comes fully equipped with all the necessary kit required by the volunteers including a welfare area, a drying room, 360 degree LED scene lighting, an expedition rack, a telescopic communications system and emergency service markings and lights. Additionally, ETRUX completed a minibus with a complimentary rack, camera systems and scene lighting to ensure that the LSAR fleet was fully aligned.
Noel Keenan from LSAR claims the team is “delighted” with the new vehicles and they will be “invaluable” when it comes to future search and rescue operations.
“LSAR volunteers work in extremely demanding circumstances, often having to compete with very challenging conditions,” explained Noel.
“We pride ourselves on helping to keep the Belfast community safe and part of doing that is ensuring our volunteers have the most up-to-date equipment, which is why we’ve now added a control vehicle and water rescue unit to our fleet.
“The team at ETRUX couldn’t have been more helpful, they embraced the design brief and made valuable recommendations throughout the project. We are delighted with how the vehicles turned out, which we know will be instrumental in future search and rescue operations.”
Speaking about the project, Gareth Pinkerton, Lead Engineer at ETRUX added: “The volunteers at LSAR carry out fantastic work and we were so pleased to be able to work alongside them for this very worthwhile project.
“The converted vehicles will hopefully make a big difference to the team when they’re out on-site performing rescue operations.
“As specialists in vehicle conversions, the ETRUX staff was able to use their expert skills to ensure that the LSAR volunteers would have everything they required and that the vehicle would meet and indeed exceed their expectations.
“On behalf of the team at ETRUX, we are so proud to have been able to contribute – albeit in a small way – to this extremely worthy organisation.”
