[1] First designed in 1997 with the internal codename of F98 (short for Fire 1998), production would begin by 2002.

[3] Sales were originally aimed at the Kent and Devon and Somerset fire services, but in competition with other narrow truck conversions such as the MAN truck range, the Dagger sold poorly, going on to be the final new fire engine produced by Dennis Specialist Vehicles before the company's closure in 2007.

Outside of the UK, the New Zealand Fire Service is the only known foreign customer and operator of the Dagger, after a pair were ordered as a trial in 2004.

One of the ex-demonstrators, which itself had also been operated by the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service was purchased by the NZFS a year later in 2005.

As of 2025, all three examples remain in service in New Zealand, albeit operated by the NZFS’s successor agency, FENZ.