Firies demand new trucks, better gear as summer heats up

Firefighters in South Australia are calling for more support from the government, just days after battling threatening blazes in the state.

"What we're interested in is safety," United Firefighters Union SA secretary Max Adlam said.

"Safety for our members on these trucks. Safety for the public as the trucks go out and protect our community."

The union is worried about making use of allegedly old and unsafe vehicles, with 9News today seeing a truck on the road with what appeared to be a split tyre.

"In the last month, we had two vehicles taken off the road as unroadworthy," Mr Adlam said.

"We've had another vehicle drive down from a southern suburbs station that had no brakes."

The union claimed a dozen new trucks were urgently needed.

And it's feared that there aren't enough spares for the current fleet, with 19 MFS appliances now more than 20 years old.

"When I see seatbelts being held together by zip ties, I start to become extremely concerned about why that's going on," Mr Adlam said.

The union and the state government are currently deadlocked over a new pay and conditions deal.

Premier Steven Marshall defended his track record, claiming he had inherited the fire fleet from the previous government.

"We've applied significant additional funds since coming to government," he said.

"And another more-than-$11 million in the budget that was handed down in November.