Municipal fire pumpers in Germany are frequently fitted with monitors, but these are usually the folding type and installed on the roof behind the cab. Placing a remote control monitor on the front of the cab roof like this example is a new idea, borrowed from airfield crash tenders. It obviously makes deployment of the monitor much more rapid and with better control and less effort. In this case, it may have been installed to give thus unit a backup role on the airfield as well as its structure firefighting capabilities. Although they will still most likely be used infrequently, we may see them deployed more often than the older, folding ones, because they are much easier to use. In the US, all pumpers are required to have a monitor (the so called “deck gun”), but even here they are actually rarely used except at major fires.
Added by Rob Johnson on 30 September 2025.