Fire Engines Photos

Is it the practice in Colmar to have all the prime movers already loaded up? Most fire services leave at least one or two unloaded, so it is not necessary to take the extra time needed to swap containers if a different one is needed.

Added by Rob Johnson on 29 April 2024.

From left to right USAR-SALVAGE-HAZMAT. Yes they are loaded, due to lack of space there is just 1 spare pod on the side (Transport).
In close neighbor FS there are several pods carriers i.e. BA-WATER CISTERN-MEDICAL-MASS CASUALTIES

Added by Jacques Peter on 30 April 2024.

21 Pod Carriers are dispatched strategically all over the Haut Rhin Departement 68. Many in the southern part with heavy industrial zones and bordering Basel industries.

Added by Jacques Peter on 30 April 2024.

Interesting. Although I have not made a study of this subject, it does seem that most German fire services have around three AB containers for each WLF transporter, so that maximum flexibility is obtained with the lowest cost. Otherwise, the economics are not much different from having a fleet of dedicated single purpose special units.

Added by Rob Johnson on 30 April 2024.

To be mentioned, some stations have of course more space to accommodate several pods to be loaded. When visiting recently Basel and Lausanne FS, I also noticed that there were very few spare pods on the side, most were already loaded. German FS have often separate areas where WLF & AB are parked, lot of space!

Added by Jacques Peter on 01 May 2024.

Good point! Dedicated special purpose trucks are expensive, but of course so is the real estate needed to house them! I sometimes wonder that German and Austrian fire services can afford so many rarely used AB containers, not to mention an enormous network of sometimes huge and often very elaborate fire stations. My own view is that all this is possible because every city and town in both countries relies to some extent - if not exclusively - on unpaid volunteers. In Germany and Austria, only 3% of firefighters are salaried, compared to around 30% in France and most other countries.

Annual reports from many countries indicate that payroll accounts for around 70% of all costs in professional fire departments - almost regardless of which country you look at. Eliminating payroll by utilizing the free services of volunteers effectively trebles the budget available for fire stations, buildings, training facilities, trucks, equipment and fire prevention activities. In one of the few countries which relies almost exclusively on paid full time and on call crews, which is the UK, the numbers of fire stations, fire trucks and firefighters has declined significantly in recent years due to financial constraints. Placed which rely on volunteers have in some cases seen a decline too, but not on anything like the same scale. While London was closing fire stations with paid staff and reducing the number of trucks at others, Berlin was adding new volunteer stations!

Added by Rob Johnson on 01 May 2024.

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