Fire Engines Photos

1976 hendrickson 1871-slp/calavar firebird 150. disposed of in 1989.

Added by GA_Dave on 01 March 2008.

We had one of these in the Manhasset-Lakeville VFD at the Co 1 station on Community Drive. Quite a silly expenditure for a department covering around 16, 000 people with no structures remotely approaching 150 feet high! It could not negotiate the hilly winding streets in the Strathmore section of town - its first response area - and I think it was only used "in earnest" when it was called out to support FDNY on mutual aid, because they had nothing over 100'.

Added by Rob Johnson on 27 January 2011.

We had one of these in Anchorage Alaska from about 1978-1983. We had lots of problems with the hydraulics. The brake system leaked so bad we attached a Scott Air Pak bottle and regulator to the brake line and manually charged it so we could leave the station. We sold it to the Calgary Canada fire dept who operated several of them.

Added by Jan Zumwalt - retired AFD on 25 February 2012.

If memory serves me rightly - and it doesn't always asc I get older - there was one of these at Tel Aviv.

Added by Ian Moore on 26 February 2012.

Sacramento, California, owned three of these: one bought new and two second-hand rigs. They also had a Firebird 90. They ran them as standard truck companies, meaning they regularly ran medical aid calls, etc., and must have accumulated lots of miles on them.

Added by Steve on 10 May 2013.

I was a tillerman at 5s . When we went north past Memorial drive we took the Firebird.Memorial drive and south we took the 85 foot tiller ladder.

Added by Douglas R hutcheson on 13 October 2015.

Much to my surprise, I discovered that one of these was also operated by the French Naval Marine Fire Service (BSPM), which is the "city" fire service for Marseilles in southern France.

Built on an FWD 6X6 chassis, it was purchased mainly to cover the enormous oil refinery complex at the port, but it could of course respond to incidents anywhere. At the time, it was understandably considered to be the highest fire tower in Europe at 45.8 meters.

It was apparently deployed very rarely, and I have not been able to find out what ultimately happened to it. The Pompiersnet.fr website has a photo of this unique unit.

Added by Rob Johnson on 19 February 2017.

1990 Miami FD had a 150. I was trying to sell the Panavision v150 in Montreal and HAD to check the beast out. Absolutely filled the firehouse. The crew chief/head mech told me a tale. One day, most all the units were out on calls and a call came in for medical. No Choice; The last few guys got in and they rolled the 66,000-lb monster for an old lady with chest pains.

Added by John Kessler on 09 February 2025.

picture 35778 on this site depicts the Manhasset Firebird, along with some comments about these unusual but not very successful trucks.

Added by Rob Johnson on 11 February 2025.

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