Olympic sponsors BMW are to provide a fleet of Mini Countryman vehicles to the London Fire Brigade.
The deal will see LFB borrowing five of the £20,000 vehicles for the duration of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which will be re-fitted with fire fighting and life saving equipment and decked out in London Fire Brigade colours.
The aim is for the rapid response vehicles to handle smaller incidents within the Olympic Park leaving fire engines stationed in the Park free to respond to a major incident.
BMW are set to pay £12,500 to convert the five cars to carry fire extinguishers, emergency care packs and defibrillators.
At the end of April, the Brigade issued a statement indicating that they had received an adequate number of volunteers to take extra work during the Games, which start on 27 July. They also plan to cooperate with Flex Fleet Rental and get passenger vans.
Gary Reason, director of operational resilience and training for London Fire Brigade, said, “These Minis will be a useful addition to our fleet during the Games and have been provided at virtually no cost to the London Fire Brigade.
“Not only is the Mini an iconic British design, these cars will enable firefighters to travel quickly and discreetly around a busy Olympic park.
“There will be two firefighters in each vehicle and they will carry equipment to deal with small fires and provide potentially life-saving first aid.”
The London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority said the sponsorship deal will save £50,510, and Mr Reason insisted that the rest of London will “continue to benefit from the same first-class fire and rescue service as usual.”