Fire Engines Photos

These Baker Aerialscope towers are a design which goes back to the 1970s, and have been in use with FDNY for around half a century now. Two versions are in service, with either 75 or 85 foot booms. Although the department operates a large fleet of 100 foot aerial ladders in addition to the numerous towers, these are rarely used for fire extinction with hose lines, but are limited to providing roof access for ladder companies to effectuate either rescue or ventilation tasks.

The towers, equipped with integral plumbing, cages and monitors, are primarily deployed in the water tower role. Although some fire departments operate towers with built in pumps, these FDNY towers are all dependent on a separate pumper for water supply. The crew, just like a ladder crew, are primarily tasked with rescue, overhaul and ventilation work, but are also frequently called on to deliver large volumes of water during exterior attack operations at serious incidents. Both ladders and towers have a five person crew.





Added by Rob Johnson on 06 May 2025.

A minor correction! The longer versions are actually 95 feet. All are mid mounted, to keep the vehicles’ overall height as low as possible; many of them have to fit into the doorways of very old firehouses which were originally built for horse drawn trucks.

Added by Rob Johnson on 06 May 2025.

Please add your comments about this picture using the form below.

Comments

Your Name

Your email address - this will be shown on the page and will allow the system to notify you of further comments added to this picture.