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CAL FIRE has their own specialized fire trucks.[1] California has a huge number of wildfires, all over a big state.[2] CAL FIRE has about 3,000 pieces of equipm

CAL FIRE has their own specialized fire trucks.[1] California has a huge number of wildfires, all over a big state.[2] CAL FIRE has about 3,000 pieces of equipment. Current CAL FIRE trucks are 4 wheel drive off-road heavy trucks. They're shorter than municipal or airport trucks, for dirt roads with tight turns. They use a 500 gallon tank with a foam system. [1] https://www.fire.ca.gov/what-we-do/fire-protection/mobile-equipment https://www.fire.ca.gov/what-we-do/fire-protection/mobile-eq... [2] https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents

wongarsu 2y ago
It's curious that even when length is a concern they still went with bonneted trucks instead of the cab-over-engine design that dominates Europe because of length and maneuverability considerations. Compare for example these French forest fire trucks: http://www.sides.fr/en/french-standardised-vehicles/ http://www.sides.fr/en/french-standardised-vehicles/ Or this range of vehicles from a Spanish manufacturer: https://www.iturri.com/en/vehicles/emergencies-and-fire-fighting/wildfire/ https://www.iturri.com/en/vehicles/emergencies-and-fire-figh... Probably another example of path dependence?
- floatrock 2y ago
  No thoughts on this maneuverability debate and totally respect the firefighters in every country, but just chuckling that the trucks on that french page literally look like cute little toys. The photos might have some tilt-shift-like effect going on.
  - tacticus 2y ago
    Proportionally they're fine when you look at window and door sizes. They're just short wheelbase 4/8 tonne trucks with a dual cab. You see them fairly often here in .au driven by tradies who actually understand what they need to use for work and entertainingly smaller, easier to park, and have a cargo capacity larger than the shitty utes that all the accountants drive
  - Symbiote 2y ago
    From my point of view in Europe, where the French vehicles look completely normal, the Californian ones look very aggressive, and like something from a museum.
- sbierwagen 2y ago
  The US does make some cabover trucks. For the Army, naturally. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_of_Medium_Tactical_Vehicles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_of_Medium_Tactical_Vehi...
  - opello 2y ago
    Entertainingly, the manufacturer is listed as: > Oshkosh Corporation (current; won rebuy competition) and that's part of the private equity consolidation of emergency vehicle manufacturers from another comment [1] in this post. Perhaps that means there could be more compact, maneuverable, cabover designs of commercial fire trucks! [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43646865 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43646865

wongarsu 2y ago

It's curious that even when length is a concern they still went with bonneted trucks instead of the cab-over-engine design that dominates Europe because of length and maneuverability considerations. Compare for example these French forest fire trucks: http://www.sides.fr/en/french-standardised-vehicles/ http://www.sides.fr/en/french-standardised-vehicles/ Or this range of vehicles from a Spanish manufacturer: https://www.iturri.com/en/vehicles/emergencies-and-fire-fighting/wildfire/ https://www.iturri.com/en/vehicles/emergencies-and-fire-figh... Probably another example of path dependence?

floatrock 2y ago
No thoughts on this maneuverability debate and totally respect the firefighters in every country, but just chuckling that the trucks on that french page literally look like cute little toys. The photos might have some tilt-shift-like effect going on.
- tacticus 2y ago
  Proportionally they're fine when you look at window and door sizes. They're just short wheelbase 4/8 tonne trucks with a dual cab. You see them fairly often here in .au driven by tradies who actually understand what they need to use for work and entertainingly smaller, easier to park, and have a cargo capacity larger than the shitty utes that all the accountants drive
- Symbiote 2y ago
  From my point of view in Europe, where the French vehicles look completely normal, the Californian ones look very aggressive, and like something from a museum.
sbierwagen 2y ago
The US does make some cabover trucks. For the Army, naturally. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_of_Medium_Tactical_Vehicles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_of_Medium_Tactical_Vehi...
- opello 2y ago
  Entertainingly, the manufacturer is listed as: > Oshkosh Corporation (current; won rebuy competition) and that's part of the private equity consolidation of emergency vehicle manufacturers from another comment [1] in this post. Perhaps that means there could be more compact, maneuverable, cabover designs of commercial fire trucks! [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43646865 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43646865