Urban areas find themselves at a crossroads in handling growing populations. On the one hand, expanding infrastructure to improve walkways, bike lanes, and the use of ridesharing services can help curb pollution and save energy.
On the other hand, these approaches consume street space that can make things more difficult for emergency response teams – like firefighters driving large trucks through congested city streets. And while other cities continue to struggle with this challenge, San Francisco feels it has found a solution in the form of their Vision Zero custom pumping fire engines.
In meshing public requests for bike lanes and similar accommodations, but still meeting the ability to haul 500 gallons of water up the city’s famously steep hills, Ferrara Fire Apparatus was able to construct a truck that’s 10” shorter and 2” narrower than previous versions. These new dimensions, combined with a turning radius that’s been reduced from 33’ to 25’, allows for improved navigation around ridesharing pick-up lanes, bike traffic, and wider pedestrian walkways. The $533,000 vehicles carry a lifespan of 15 years.
Additional space-saving features include doors that roll up instead of swinging outward. Tinted windows were also removed in favor of clearer ones that allow for communicating with cyclists or walkers. Additional turn signals and four cameras that provide the truck driver with a 360-degree external view should also aid in navigating tighter streets.
The city has six such vehicles in service, with another eight on the way.