Fire Apparatus – United States vs. Europe (2016)

It&#x27;s not just fire trucks, but also vehicles for garbage collection, delivery, ... . I&#x27;m from Europe, and American-style vehicles feel to me oversized and and too heavy for the purpose, while the equivalent vehicles in Asian cities often feel undersized.<p>It&#x27;s interesting, I think. I think it&#x27;s a combination of different requirements and different cultural outlook on things.

<i>&gt; Barwick says that most of the European aerials she has seen are smaller than their U.S. counterparts. “Europe keeps its aerial units quite small, likely because of the street limitations and the building heights and construction,”</i><p>An American-style 100-foot turntable ladder [3] might have a 5.8m wheelbase and a 12m overall length, whereas a typical European 32-meter ladder is more like a 4.8m wheelbase and 10m overall length [4].<p>Prior to 2017, London&#x27;s fire brigade only operated 32m ladders - which can only reach the 10th floor of a tower block - because at the time of purchase, the longer ladders on the market would have struggled to navigate London&#x27;s streets.<p>LFB recently got some 64m ladders [1] (to reach the 20th floor) after an awful fire in a 24-storey tower block which killed a lot of people. Surprisingly, the new ladder trucks aren&#x27;t actually that much bigger in terms of wheelbase - but they&#x27;re twice the weight, have four axles instead of 2, and the telescoping ladder has 7 sections instead of the usual 4&#x2F;5.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.london-fire.gov.uk&#x2F;news&#x2F;2021-news&#x2F;november&#x2F;london-fire-brigade-to-bring-in-uk-s-tallest-aerial-ladder-into-operational-use&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.london-fire.gov.uk&#x2F;news&#x2F;2021-news&#x2F;november&#x2F;londo...</a> [2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.magirusgroup.com&#x2F;de&#x2F;en&#x2F;serving-heroes&#x2F;deliveries&#x2F;detail&#x2F;delivery&#x2F;three-m64l-for-london-11-2021&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.magirusgroup.com&#x2F;de&#x2F;en&#x2F;serving-heroes&#x2F;deliveries...</a> [3] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;1641088.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net&#x2F;hubfs&#x2F;1641088&#x2F;New_Deliveries_Files&#x2F;36712AD.pdf?noresize" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;1641088.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net&#x2F;hubfs&#x2F;1641088...</a> [4] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.magirusgroup.com&#x2F;de&#x2F;en&#x2F;serving-heroes&#x2F;deliveries&#x2F;detail&#x2F;delivery&#x2F;m32l-at-for-bad-frankenhausen-07-2022&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.magirusgroup.com&#x2F;de&#x2F;en&#x2F;serving-heroes&#x2F;deliveries...</a>

I&#x27;m not a firefighter (nor do I know much about firefighting), but I really enjoy seeing the differences in these sorts of specialised equipment across the world. Even the uniforms are pretty different (which a layperson would probably notice when visiting). The helmets used by North American firefighters are very distinctive, whereas European helmets look more like daft punk or fighter pilots.<p>I&#x27;d love to see this sort of comparison on other jobs you&#x27;d think would be the same. I&#x27;m also curious what differences there are in other parts of the world like Asia or South America.

Less technical, but I love the paint jobs &#x2F; exterior design on many US fire trucks. I guess they&#x27;re a byproduct of US fire departments using more custom-made gear, which I just learnt about.

Is it a term of art unfamiliar to me as a layman (but I can see how it would be to draw a distinction from non-water-pumping units), or just generally American to call these (to me: fire engines) &#x27;pumpers&#x27;?<p>Interesting (I think) aside: &#x27;fire engines&#x27; is a remnant of (and now &#x27;fire&#x27; is a redundant qualifier) garden watering systems being called &#x27;engines&#x27;, pumping systems (and earlier still all sorts of mechanisms) generally.

There is another source of firefighters and their equipment other than the military. My ex-wife&#x27;s best friend was serving a sentence at the California State maximum security prison for women. It turned out that associated with the prison was a fire station which was outside the wire. It was staffed by a number of inmates and one male firefighter who was their instructor and leader. My ex-wife&#x27;s best friend learned how to drive a fire engine, got her Hazmat Certificate, and much more.

So much of North American cities are buried under pavement. Neighborhood road widths are designed to accommodate big fire engines.<p>The result is sprawl and unwalkable neighborhoods. Every household needs two cars.<p>The developers and their politician friends talk up high rise, but you can get a bunch more density with narrow streets and separations and housing that people want to live in

In France, specifically Marseille and Paris, some fire brigades are military units, not civilian.<p>Is this something that&#x27;s done in the US as well?

I&#x27;m sad the Green Goddess&#x27;s didn&#x27;t feature as one of the UK trucks. They&#x27;re still in service in the UK for when the fire service goes on strike for better pay, despite getting double the amount of the armed service personnel covering said strike; about which I am definitely not bitter or cynical about in the slightest.