Fire Engines Photos

Andreas, this is an ambulance and pump combined into a single unit? Does the city this unit responds in have standard ambulances as well? Under what circumstances does this unit transport patients in place of an ambulance? Also what is the size of the water tanks and pump?

We have these in the US, but are very few. I have seen photos of some, but not up close. The photos I have seen, they look like large ambulances with side mounted pump panels.

Added by David L on 30 October 2010.

yes david it´s a combination of an reg.amb.+a standard pumper, ...rather strange and only used in paris, no other part of France...I know of a few simmiliar units in germany (city of essen FD)and an industrial plant near stuttgart using an "FRAP" vehicle made by Iveco...

Added by Andreas Hasselmann on 31 October 2010.

Those used by Feuerwehr Essen are called Löschrettungsfahrzeug (short LRF), which could be translated as 'fire-rescue vehicle' and their second generation (based on a light Atego chassis and not a van anymore) has entered service recently. The 1st generation LRF were developed following a truly tragic car crash in a remote part of the city. One of the vehicles involved caught fire and a fire service ambulance crew which was first to arrive on the scene was helpless (as they had no equipment to fight the fire or extract the trapped victims). The first pumper arrived too late - the victims died. It was such a shock that it was decided not to let anythig like this happen again in the city of Essen. The LRF was born, in fact a regular ambulance (maybe a little larger) with some basic firefighting (water tank, HP pump, hosereel) and rescue equipment. Their firefightig role is a secondary one.

The PS/PSE of Paris is, as far as I remember, an 'even' combination of a pumper and an ambulance. There were already 4 generations, the last one on a Renault Midlum with a double cab and some other major changes (e.g. the left side being devoted to firefighting, the right side to amb duties). I'd have to check, but I think the PSE 4th Generation has a 1000 l water tank and the pump output is around 1500-2000 lpm.

Added by Konrad Nowak on 02 November 2010.

Fifth generation Paris PS have a pump rated at 1000LPM @ 15AT, a 1000 liter tank, a CAFS installation and accommodate a crew of five. There are 43 in service plus 59 fourth generation units, which are almost identical, but without CAFS. There are one or two attached to each of BSPP's 74 stations.

The other firefighting vehicles include 42 various pumpers (mainly rated at 2000LPM @ 15AT) and 63 aerial ladders, towers and platforms, as well as specials, command units, etc.

The EMS fleet includes 142 BLS ambulances and 10 ALS units. Additional emergency medical ambulance coverage is provided by the SAMU organization, which is a purely medical service, more oriented to respond to serious medical problems.

BSPP report that 83% of their calls are EMS, compared to 7% fires and 10% technical service alarms. No wonder they have such a focus on EMS units!

All other French fire services also operate the primary EMS operations throughout the country, but use separate fire and EMS vehicles, leaving the Paris PS a unique specification. Apart from a handful of full-time German fire services, fire and EMS units are quite separate designs throughout Europe (and pretty much all other foreign countries, too!)

Added by Rob Johnson on 02 May 2016.

Please add your comments about this picture using the form below.

Comments

Your Name

Your email address - this will be shown on the page and will allow the system to notify you of further comments added to this picture.