Fire Engines Photos

What a stunning looking appliance, very chic. In this modern day, looks more aesthetic than useful. But why not arrive at a sunny AFA in style. Tres bien.

Added by John D on 23 June 2011.

Hi Richard, I think you may find these two appliances are in preservation. They are both classic French machines from the 60's/70's and if they are still in service the local 'pompiers' must be pretty hard up! I wish I had been there, I would have had to go and do my 'Bonjour, je suis un pompier anglais' bit!!

Added by Murray Beale on 23 June 2011.

A rather elderly "premier secours" - a light pump for first response. Both this and the Berliet Camiva in the same series of photos must be at least 20 years old. I think this local station is probably a small town volunteer outfit, as many of these in France get very few calls and still operate many quite ancient trucks

Added by Rob Johnson on 23 June 2011.

I agree that this pump must be getting on a bit but I don't think she is in preservation because the fifteen or so firefighters attached to this and the two other appliances were all in uniform and looked to be young and fit.
Richard

Added by Richard Aston on 26 June 2011.

Thus is a Heuliez bodied "Drouville" Citroen U55, rather futuristic looking for its era!

Added by Rob Johnson on 05 March 2021.

The smallest French town with a fire station that I know of had only around 3,000 people living there - so you can imagine how busy it wasn't! These exist because France has huge areas with very few people, and villages are too far apart for any kind of meaningful mutual aid to be able to arrive within a decent time frame. So you either have a fire station of you have nothing. So - very few calls and the trucks get very little use, which means that a 20, 30 or even 40 year service life is pretty normal. The same is true of most volunteer fire stations outside of large towns in most other countries too.

The least busy volunteer fire station I have come across was in Catalonia, Spain, where every community over 5, 000 population has by law to have its own fire station. In 2020 it turned out six times!

Added by Rob Johnson on 06 March 2021.

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