Folding steps are now pretty standard on European fire appliances, as they permit upper body locker space to be much more easily and safely accessible. Combined with sliding and tilting upper trays for lighter items, they leave more space in the lower body for heavy gear and increase the utility of the total cube quite a lot. This becomes more and more necessary as the standard pumper is increasingly being asked to fill the role of rescue truck too, not to mention often having larger and larger tanks as well as more additional sophisticated and specialized gear on board.
Added by Rob Johnson on 06 August 2026.