Most jobs on a farm come back to water. Getting it where it needs to be when you need it, without dragging hoses across three paddocks. Tinkera's fire-fighting IBC trailer is a multi-purpose farm water trailer built to suit: 1000L of water, a petrol-powered pump and a 36m hose reel, on a chassis you can hitch and move wherever you need. It's ready for fire season. It's also working the other nine months of the year.

What's on the trailer

It starts with the same 1000L IBC tank and heavy-duty galvanised chassis as Tinkera's standard water trailer. What makes this one different is what's bolted on top: a petrol-powered pump moving up to 400 litres a minute, a 36-metre hose on a reel so you're not wrestling it every time, and an adjustable nozzle that switches between a wide, gentle spray and a tight, hard stream.

The combination of water, pressure and reach is what makes it useful for far more than a fire precaution.

Every job it does around the property

Tree planting and establishment. New trees, shelterbelts and revegetation plantings are most likely to fail in their first dry spell. Tow the trailer down the row, run the hose out 36 metres and water a stretch of plantings without moving every few trees.

Livestock watering. Top up stock troughs and get water out to remote paddocks that aren't on the reticulation, or keep a mob going while a pipe or pump gets fixed.

Water transfer. Move water between tanks, dams and troughs, or from one end of the property to the other. The pump does the lifting, so you're not relying on gravity and a 50mm outlet.

General irrigation. Gardens, market garden beds, small crops and anything outside the reach of your fixed irrigation.

Dust suppression. Damp down farm tracks, driveways, yards and work sites — on the wide spray setting, a full tank covers a fair bit of ground.

Equipment washdowns. Tractors, machinery, trailers and anything else that's come back from the paddock caked in mud. Tighten the nozzle up and the pump has the pressure to shift it.

Farm spraying. Apply EM (Effective Microorganisms), organic treatments and other suitable liquid applications across pasture, crops or garden areas. Flush the tank and lines properly between jobs — especially before switching back to stock water or keeping it filled for fire season.

Fire season: what it's for and what it's not

When fire season comes round, the trailer earns its keep. It's built for what's likely to happen on a rural property — dampening down around a shed, knocking out embers and spot fires before they take hold, and buying time while a brigade is on the way.

It's not a substitute for a fire truck, and it's not accredited firefighting equipment. It's a property owner's tool to keep things in check until proper help arrives on site.

Getting ready before the season turns

Good bushfire prep on a rural property starts well before the first hot, windy day. The trailers that get used in an emergency are the ones that are full, tested and parked where they can be hitched and moving in under a minute.

If it's been working on other jobs throughout spring, do a season-opener before summer: flush it out if it's been used for spraying, fill it with clean water, run the pump for five minutes to make sure it starts first go, and check the hose reel winds freely. On high fire danger days, keep it full and ready rather than out on another job.

Fire trailer or standard trailer

If general water cartage is all you need — filling troughs, carting water, topping up tanks — the standard IBC trailer does that job with a 50mm outlet valve and no pump.

If you want to spray, wash down, water trees along a row, push water uphill or have something ready for fire season, the pump and hose reel are what make that possible.

Pairing with the rest of a dry-season setup

Water's one half of getting stock through a dry summer — feed's the other. Tinkera's Mineral Trailers (sheep version here) move mineral supplementation to mobs of 100 or more, with six troughs and an auto-fill water system built in. If you're already sorting the property's water for the season ahead, it's a good time to look at the feed side of the same dry months.

Common questions

What can I use it for outside fire season? Tree watering, stock water, moving water between tanks and dams, irrigation, dust suppression, equipment washdowns and spraying liquid treatments. The pump and hose make it useful for any job where water needs to go somewhere with some pressure behind it.

Can I spray with it? Yes — EM, organic treatments and other suitable liquid applications. Flush the tank and lines between jobs, and before using it for stock water or fire.

Is this an accredited firefighting unit? No — it's a property owner's asset-protection tool for spot fires and dampening down, not a replacement for a brigade fire truck. Check your own council and insurance requirements for anything beyond that.

How fast can the pump get going? It's a quick-start petrol engine, built to be ready without a long warm-up — the main delay in an emergency is usually whoever's getting to the trailer, not the trailer itself.

Does it need anything special to tow? It sits on the same heavy-duty galvanised chassis as the rest of the IBC trailer range — the same vehicle that tows your standard water trailer will tow this one.

Not sure which trailer fits your property? Get in touch at hello@tinkera.com.au. Oliver reads everything.

See the range → Water and fire trailers

The fire trailer that works all year — a multi-purpose farm water trailer