Hundreds of Mercedes-Benz firefighting vehicles used by Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMV) have been pulled from duty after faults allegedly related to their appliance bodies were discovered.
Separate from Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) and the Country Fire Authority (CFA), Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMV) is run by the state government to reduce the risk and impact of bushfires.
CarExpert understands the safety concerns are allegedly related to the bodies fitted to the FFMV fleet – supplied by a third-party contractor.
In 2017, the Victorian Government spent $32 million on 290 examples of the Mercedes-Benz G-Class Professional ute and 59 units of the Mercedes-Benz Unimog – an off-road truck used by military forces around the world, including the Australian Defence Force.
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“The Unimog is trusted by fire and rescue services around the world and has proven itself over and over again in the most extreme environments,” Mercedes-Benz Trucks Australia said in a written statement provided to CarExpert.
“In this case, we understand there is no problem with the Unimog itself.”
News of the grounded fleet came just 24 hours after Victorian premier Jacinta Allan warned of the forthcoming bushfire season.
While the exact nature of the problems remains unclear, those with inside knowledge allege the bodies fitted to the G-Class utes may have led to chassis cracking in some vehicles.
Authorities chose to remove all vehicles from service to conduct inspections and necessary repairs.
“The safety of our firefighters is paramount, that’s why regular safety inspections of vehicles and equipment are so important,” a spokesperson for the Victorian Government told CarExpert.
“FFMV has brought online additional vehicles to continue undertaking critical bushfire season preparations and respond to bushfire emergencies.
“These repairs are being fast-tracked over the next two months and FFMV is working on agreements to secure additional emergency response vehicles from other states if required.”
As part of the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, FFMV has a contingency fleet that includes Toyota LandCruiser vehicles as well as fire tankers and bulldozers used for fire response – while the CFA and State Emergency Service (SES) have also provided vehicles to be used in the interim.
In mid-2025, the SES launched legal action against a different third-party appliance body supplier regarding similar alleged issues across its fleet of Japanese trucks.
CarExpert has contacted the company that supplied the appliance bodies to FFMV for comment.