Fire Engines Photos

Who says Dennis never exported anything to the US? This must be their original demonstrator for the North American market! ( The word "Vol" is a technical term for a high volume pumper.)

Added by Rob Johnson on 03 December 2012.

Nice fantasy Rob. The letters on the hood (bonnet)
indicate that it belonged to the Dennis Volunteer Fire Company. In the American north east a number of volunteers refer to their organization as Company rather than Department. This truck probably came from New Jersey when a private individual purchased it from New Jersey and had it shipped to Texas. From the body design it could be a unit built by "Great Eastern" which was a subsidiary of Oren Fire Apparatus of Roanoke, Va. Just speculation.

Added by John Harris on 03 December 2012.

Thanks. I get it, but I could not resist the rather amusing idea that Dennis may have at least tried to enter the North American market.

When I lived in southern California in 1981, there was a rumor going around that Beverly Hills FD had heard that Dennis was building fire trucks with Rolls-Royce engines, and they thought that this would be fitting for their modest little city - but they never bought any, limiting their prestige European imports to a Mercedes L1313 4X4 tanker!

In fact, I think Magirus was one of very few foreign manufacturer who sold to the US, but these were all aerial ladders on Mack chassis; in addition, a very small number of US builders delivered a handful of fire engines on Volvo chassis. A few Unimogs also made their way in to fire department service, but I think they were too expensive to gain much traction. (no pun intended)

In a different world, DVFC could have been Dennis Volume Firefighting Combination! But I guess we should have respect for dear departed Dennis.

Added by Rob Johnson on 03 December 2012.

Rob, the folks that produced the show "Emergency" did have an episode where John and Roy were restoring an old Dennis. I don't remember the model number though. What is equally rare are US fire vehicles on Japanese chassis. I have only seen a few in my travels around the country. The company I consult for is building on Kawasaki chassis, but one can hardly call them a real truck.

Added by John Harris on 04 December 2012.

San Diego recently bought a Tatra 6X6 brush truck, and I think one or two others have been placed in service by departments in Colorado and/or Oregon. I have seen a video of this unit, and it looks very capable.

Added by Rob Johnson on 04 December 2012.

The Tatra 6x6's chassis were used by the now defunct S&S Fire Apparatus, I've seen that KME has now produced some using the Tatra chassis.

Added by Jeff on 04 December 2012.

Guys I did originally write that it is a Ford, to stop confusion, I really dont think Dennis ever expoted to USA

Added by Andrew Breeden on 08 December 2012.

This truck served the Dennis Vol Fire Co in Dennisville NJ from 1973-1976.We purchased it from Town Bank Fire In NJ.We would love to know the location of this truck.And would like to know if we could use this picture? Since we have no picture of this truck.

Added by Bruce Knoll on 19 April 2013.

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