Fire Engines Photos

The Magirus hydraulic ladder was introduced only a year or two earlier, and proved very popular in the UK, appearing on a variety of chassis. It was especially liked by several county fire brigades, who still wanted petrol engined equipment, rather than the diesel AEC chassis which was at the time the only option offered by Merryweather with their new hydraulic ladder. The most popular petrol chassis were Bedford and Commer. There were also two diesel Magirus ladders, both on Leyland Firemaster chassis, and in later years a few were sold on Iveco chassis after Magirus became part of Iveco.

At the same time, in Germany and in almost all export markets, the Magirus ladder was always on a Magirus (diesel) chassis, including the original very odd looking low profile chassis - a few of which made their way to Britain.

Magirus has been in the turntable ladder business for a very long time, and supplied the first “turntable long ladders” to London in 1905. These were wooden manually operated 82 foot (25 meter) ladders drawn by two horses, and were at the time the longest practical wood ladders, due to their weight and the fact that all operations were manual. Until then, the 55 foot wheeled escape had been the longest ladder in London, although a few 60 foot ones were introduced later too.

Added by Rob Johnson on 17 February 2023.

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