Fire Engines Photos

It seems that perhaps the great majority of fire services just use one or more older ex-service pumps to cart ladders around. It occurs to me that this may be a less expensive solution than paying for a dedicated unit like this example.

Added by Rob Johnson on 28 August 2022.

Its already 11 years old, and most likely paid for itself a couple of times over. Smaller and more economical to run / service than a full sized appliance, can carry all types of ladder, and other equipment between stations, stores etc. Can also be driven by support staff that may not have an HGV licence. I'd imagine this transit maybe owned by KFRS and will be around for a few more years owning its keep. Aren't full sized frontline appliances leased, then returned with a very much shorter service life than years gone by?

Added by on 08 September 2022.

In most other countries to my knowledge front line fire equipment is usually purchased rather than leased. The UK leasing practice of selling off units after only a dozen years to other countries is relatively uncommon, but explains why brands like Scania and Mercedes are so popular, as they are very easy and inexpensive to switch to left hand drive.

Germany also exports huge numbers of used fire trucks, but these are much older. They tend to go from full time paid brigades to volunteer fire companies after 12 to 15 years, who then often operate them for another 15 to 20 before eventually selling them abroad.

Added by Rob Johnson on 08 September 2022.

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