Fire Engines Photos

The enormous and rather ugly metal box on the cab roof is a new feature which was not on FDNY trucks when I lived in New York up to 2005. Does anyone know what it is? It certainly does not seem to be very accessible. FDNY used to be virtually 100% Seagrave. Is Ferrara sharing the supplier role now, or has Seagrave finally lost their monopoly?

Added by Rob Johnson on 28 February 2012.

Rob, I've been told the boxes are for things like water rescue kit, haz mat equipment. Its up to the Companies to store what ever they want in them. Hope this helps.

Added by Paul Warnock on 28 February 2012.

Ferrara/Seagrave! Personally, I can't tell the difference. Why do so many US engine makes look identical?

Added by Yelp Bullhorn on 02 March 2012.

Yelp - it is because they almost all use the same cab. To be honest, most of them also use the same frame, engine, transmission, axles, brakes and suspension too! American La France have a unique cab design, as do Pierce, but almost all of the smaller manufacturera have been using the same cab for decades. This is designed to be immensely strong and offer a very high level of crash protection to the occupants, as firefighter injuries on the way to incidents are as big a problem as fireground accidents. Some ladders and platforms have a low profile version of the cab, to reduce overall height, while some departments specify "stand up" or "command" cabs on certain pumpers or rescues, which can also serve as incident commend units. Usual seating capacity is five or six, but the long version seats up to ten and is used by volunteer fire companies, which can sometimes reach higher levels of manning.
I think the nearest UK equivalent was probably the old Carmichael series, which used Albion, Bedford, Commer, Dodge and Ford chassis, all with identical cabs on various pump escapes and water tenders.

Added by Rob Johnson on 02 March 2012.

I feel bad for the FDNY having to use Ferraras! Not saying they're garbage, but they are bad.

Added by Squad546 on 03 March 2012.

Thanks for that, Rob. I guessed they all probably used the same cab, but I had no idea they used almost every other bit too! If this is the case, then how come Squad546 doesn't rate Ferraras much? You think they'd be same as every other make.

Added by Yelp Bullhorn on 03 March 2012.

I think the differences are mostly a matter of vehicle design and assembly quality. Brand reputations are also rooted in perceptions about older vehicles, which can be up to 20 years old and still in service. In these cases, the brand reputation is often as much about how trucks are maintained as they are about component reliability or assembly quality. FDNY was a solid Mack fleet until Mack dropped out of fire engine building, then it moved to American La France. Both of these were custom builders, with Mack using their own engines, chassis ans cabs. FDNY then migrated to Seagrave, which had been a custom builder but evolved more into an assembler to reduce costs. Their more recent products were closer to Ferrara, which has always been an assembler. Now, Ferrara can obviously build pumpers for FDNY which have all the same specs as Seagrave, but Seagrave will probably keep the aerial ladder and tower business because Ferrara only build pumpers and rescues.

Added by Rob Johnson on 05 March 2012.

Since this posting I learned that Ferrara has also supplied aerials to FDNY, although I am not sure about their most recent acquisitions.

Added by Rob Johnson on 15 April 2017.

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