Year 1992

In 1992, the greatest fire in the post-war history of Poland broke out in the forests near Kuźnia Raciborska. Two firefighters were killed in the fire. Nearly 2,000 participants were injured and 50 were hospitalized. 15 vehicles and many different fire-fighting equipment were destroyed. Nearly 10,000 hectares of forest were burnt. To date, the supplier of firefighting vehicles for fire brigades were state-owned companies and as a whole, the process was carried out in a model typical for a centrally controlled economy. The few specialized vehicles came from Western countries, and  private sector for supplying fire-fighting  units did not exist. This event, the fire, was not only an impulse to modernize firefighting equipment but also to establish a private enterprise of a natural person named “Construction of Special Vehicles Zbigniew Szczęśniak”.

The overriding objective of the established company became production of reliable and multi-purpose fire-fighting  products ensuring  safety of the rescuers and efficiency of rescue operations. The company tried to fill in the  existing gap in fire-fighting industry, but started its activity by gaining experience. At the beginning, the company carried out overhauls of fire -extinguishing vehicles of various manufacturers which allowed a thorough learning on their design and gather the necessary experience. Over time, these repairs became more and more comprehensive, covering more extensive part of the vehicle carried out by little crew at that time.