Fire Engines Photos

Jacques these guys are my heros! I love watching them on Youtube doing the most incredible acts of bravery scaling these ladders and getting to work with hoses that appear to be only tied to the head of the ladder with rope and in the most freezing of conditions! Another thing that really impresses me is they get these ladders to work the moment they arrive on the scene, not like some modern day outfits that leave the trucks parked down the street, , , ,

Added by Pav on 14 October 2013.

Hi Pav, I got a similar comment from a friend officer in Paris who 'said the driver and operator have all my respect'! On my visit to this station the team was a bit ashamed when showing me the Ladder. They know of course it is outdated.

Added by Jacques PETER on 18 October 2013.

It is a bit of a compromise.

This 6X6 military chassis was of course never originally developed with the idea of carrying a 30 meter fire ladder.

So what they ended up with was a short wheelbase truck with a high center of gravity, not ideal by any means, and difficult to drive especially with the driver so far behind the ladder head - not much fun in intersections!

Seeing Russian firefighter videos, I have to agree they are very aggressive and effective, but so are many others, including the youthful members of the BSPP!

But I have seen more than a few where civilians are literally throwing themselves or each other out of upper floors of burning buildings! This suggests that fire coverage - and the ability of the fire service to respond quickly with adequate numbers of members and enough equipment - are sometimes seriously compromised.

Added by Rob Johnson on 27 March 2018.

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