Fire Engines Photos

Even a pump-tanker which is mainly intended for brush fire fighting just has to have a hook ladder! Invented in France in the 1820s, the hook ladder was widely adopted by fire services all over the world, but has lost its popularity in most places and is rarely seen outside France.

Added by Rob Johnson on 17 February 2025.

Perhaps I should add that most North American pumpers carry a short ladder with a folding hook, but these are very rarely (if ever) used for scaling a vertical wall, which was the role of the traditional hook ladder. They are intended to be used on the sloping roofs of typical residential houses to facilitate vertical ventilation, which is a very popular - if not universal - tactic to support interior attack teams when dealing with fires in these highly flammable wooden structures.

Added by Rob Johnson on 20 February 2025.

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