Fire­figh­ting equip­ment has already been sold to almost ten count­ries. The advan­ta­ges of the equip­ment in dif­ficult ter­rains have also been noticed in Uru­guay.

In the sum­mers of 2021 and 2022, Uru­guay was hit by major forest fires. A long-time Ponsse cus­to­mer, Mon­tes del Plata, lear­ned first-hand how dif­ficult it was to access cer­tain fire areas. Water and fire­figh­ting trucks could not reach areas with une­ven or rocky ter­rain or areas where trees had recently been fel­led.

At the same time, Ponsse had just pre­sen­ted an inno­va­tive fire­figh­ting solu­tion, and Mon­tes del Plata wan­ted to exa­mine the equip­ment.

“Ponsse offe­red us a new fire pro­tec­tion sys­tem to try. After exa­mi­ning the sys­tem, we found that it was ideal for fire­figh­ting in Uru­guay, especially for our own use.”

“Safety is one of our most impor­tant values, and Ponsse equip­ment is ext­re­mely safe. Not only does the agile equip­ment tra­vel and ope­rate off-road, but it is also reliable. This is very impor­tant. We ended up buying three pieces of equip­ment imme­dia­tely,” says Juan Bide.

The fire­figh­ting equip­ment has abi­lity to carry a large volume of water, with a water tank capacity of 10,000 lit­res. It is easy for the dri­ver to learn how to ope­rate the equip­ment. The equip­ment can be ope­ra­ted by the dri­ver of the trac­tor and the ope­ra­tor in the field via remote cont­rol. The equipment’s water can­non reac­hes a dis­tance of almost 50 met­res, so that there is no need to drive close to the fla­mes when wor­king in front of the fire.

“The results were excel­lent. We were very plea­sed with the equip­ment – so plea­sed, in fact, that we purc­ha­sed a fourth unit for the next fire sea­son, 2022–2023,” says Juan.

“Today, we have four Ponsse fire­figh­ting sys­tems in ope­ra­tion. If I had to choose the best fea­ture, I think it’s relia­bi­lity. It is very agile, safe and also effec­tive. It can tra­vel over all types of ter­rain, so you can fill the water tank whe­re­ver you want, which hasn’t always been pos­sible if you’ve had dif­ficulty get­ting to water. The equip­ment has greatly impro­ved and enhanced our fire­figh­ting,” Juan con­ti­nues.

Due to its ver­sa­ti­lity, the fire­figh­ting equip­ment can be con­nec­ted to any forklift truck. It is also com­pa­tible with other mac­hine brands. Mon­tes del Plata has its own mac­hi­nes for fire extin­guis­hing use but, if neces­sary, the equip­ment can be easily moved from one trac­tor to anot­her in half an hour. If the fire lasts for seve­ral days, the basic mac­hine itself can be dama­ged. In this case it is easy to replace the equip­ment with anot­her mac­hine. A smal­ler dia­me­ter hose is also avai­lable, of which there can be seve­ral attac­hed in the same equip­ment.

In addi­tion to fire­figh­ting equip­ment, Mon­tes del Plata has been wor­king with Ponsse for more than ten years and has been a Ponsse Full-Ser­vice cus­to­mer since 2013.

“We feel we’re more of a part­ner than a cus­to­mer, and we’ve deve­lo­ped many impro­ve­ments to the fire­figh­ting equip­ment toget­her. Part­ners­hip is one of the values on which we base our choice of com­pa­nies to work with. We share the same values, which helps greatly in fin­ding a com­mon vision of efficiency and sha­ring expe­riences. Ponsse has always been open and honest with us.

“These strengths have hel­ped us grow toget­her. We greatly value the ser­vice and main­te­nance of our mac­hi­nes, the avai­la­bi­lity of spare parts, the trai­ning of our staff, and the rapid res­ponse to urgent inci­dents. These things are very impor­tant to us, and Ponsse has been very success­ful in them.”