The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 7 letter word GREEN GODDESS
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
G
R
E
E
N
G
O
D
D
E
S
S
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Old fire engine" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case old fire engine = green goddess.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.