A little bit of background. The fire department is in a small town of 20,000 people. For most of the town's history, its economy was based on agriculture. During the recent housing boom, a lot of subdivisions got built. The fire department has three stations.
This is the engine, a 20 year old Spartan with a Cummins 350 turbo diesel. It is used as back-up.
These are the other vehicles inside the firehouse. A fire engine carries and pumps water. A fire truck, I learned, just carries a steel ladder.
The engine in the foreground is four wheel drive and is used off road.
I ride shotgun in the fire engine. As soon as I climb in, I am told to watch where I rest my feet. Those are air horn and siren buttons.
Here we go. I'll act as the navigator. The ride was very uncomfortable. The seats are thinly padded and they are permanently set at 90 degrees to make room for all the equipment.
We drive by the work of a recent arson.
After the ride, I took a few pictures from the back seat.
Sweet!! E-One, the manufacturor of that fire engine is based just 90 minutes away in Ocala, Florida, a town I lived in for 5 years. It is one of the larger single employers in Marion County and their final assembly plant is located immediately adjacent to I-75. Often I would see 1/2 built firetrucks test driving around town.
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