How fast can a fire truck go?

[UJO]

What the top speed of a fire truck?

[DollarBill]

Post by UJO
What the top speed of a fire truck?

Uphill or downhill?

[Gary Carter]

Depends on the truck and the idiot behind the wheel. Our tanker has a top
speed of 57mph our pumper will go 70+ (as fast as I want to go even on
interstate) don't do anyone any good laying in the ditch on it's top.

Gary Carter
NREMT-B/FF/Farmedic

"DollarBill" <***@nospamearthlink.net> wrote in message news:U8Q4b.19222$***@newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net...
| "UJO" <***@cox.net> wrote in message
| news:8FP4b.22974$***@fed1read01...
| > What the top speed of a fire truck?
|
| Uphill or downhill?
|
|

[Kevin S.]

Ours will go freeway speed, but we have a bunch of 4 cylinders that I
feel are dangerously under-powered. If I don't have 2 blocks in both
directions, I can't cross an intersection. In talking to our shop
supervisor, it seems a good deal of the problem with rigs unable to
accellerate from a dead stop is the EPA. The computers are set to deny
full throttle at low rpm so as to preclude the belching black cloud of
unburned diesel fuel. So to make up for this our department has been
forced to order rigs w/ bigger motors. Ah yes the Law of Unintended
Consequences rears its ugly head.

[jbeck]

Old ones--underpowered and slow--When I first started, I remember one that
was built in 1982 that was governed at 57, and it took a little over a mile
for it to accelerate to about 52 (yes, it took a long time to cover that
mile). It would take another mile or so (pedal to the metal) from that 52
to the top end of 57. It was hardly worth running lights and sirens.

Now, in the latest round of trucks that are being purchased, I see the spec
calls for top speed range of 67-70. Very comparable to what are driving
now. I guess it all depends upon how the truck was specified.

Post by UJO
What the top speed of a fire truck?

[JC]

I volunteer at a museum and there is one truck in the collection with a top
speed on about 35 mph, it was bulit in 1928 and has a 19.5 to 1 rear end
ratio. Great parade truck and a great puller most likely capable of pulling
anything you hooked it to at 35 mph.

Talking with some of the retirees they said it was seldom they got to use 4
th gear and even more rare to use 5 th. One reports he did get a truck into
5 th at about 3 am going down hill.

[Scott Millington]

This post might be inappropriate. Click to display it.

[f/fgeorge]

I guess the answer is for most newer ones around the 65 mph range or
so. ALOT will NOT go that fast! Most Fire Engines are not designed to
go fast, they are designed to carry alot of weight. That is one reason
they are diesel powered, the torque delivers alot more torque(low end
grunt) than a gas engine. Most Fire Engines are designed for the
cities they work in not the freeways they go on occasionally. I have
been on the freeway and have been a hazard because we were DECIDELY
the slowest thing on the road! Now coming up to the accident scene we
did get thru while all those that passed us earlier were in line
waiting, kind of poetic justice.

Post by UJO
What the top speed of a fire truck?

-- Have you checked your Smoke Detector...LATELY?

[Valerie]

Post by UJO
What the top speed of a fire truck?

REAL fast :)

[J. R. Ford]

Post by UJO
What the top speed of a fire truck?

White Plains, New York, at least up to five years ago, specs their
trucks with a top speed of 45 MPH. The city engineer told me he would
order them with an even lower ratio if they didn't have to be driven
over the interstate for delivery.

The old Ford C8000's used to have a top speed of either 61 or 67 MPH.
I think some of them wouldn't have exceeded that speed if they were
dropped off of a cliff.

When Allison's "World" transmission was new on the market, quite a few
apparatus ended up with top speeds in excess of 70 MPH. It seems some
departments had not changed their specs with the times and two
overdrives pumped up the speed. But, with only three gears under 1:1
ratio, they were dogs off of the line.

So, why would you think a fire truck should go real fast? Wrecked
trucks and injured fire fighters don't do anyone any good.

[Jim Stuckey]

Post by UJO
What the top speed of a fire truck?

3.0x10^8 m/s

[Mike Painter]

Post by Jim Stuckey

Post by UJO
What the top speed of a fire truck?

3.0x10^8 m/s

That would apply only to the European Light models.

1.86 x10^5 for the American (oddball) version.

[RLDean]

Post by UJO
What the top speed of a fire truck?

That depends on a lot of factors. First, is there a speed governor
installed? In my town ours are governed at 52 mph tops, because the highest
posted road speed we have in the municipality is 50 on the state highway,
others are 35 but most streets are 25. We're also practically all hills with
many curves in an area of less than two square miles but nearly 8,000
population.

Rich Dean
Butler NJ

[Tom Kaminski]

Post by UJO
What the top speed of a fire truck?

Do you mean a European or African fire truck?

[Mike Painter]

Post by Tom Kaminski

Post by UJO
What the top speed of a fire truck?

Do you mean a European or African fire truck?

Red, no yellow. Argggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg.

[Kevin S.]

Post by Tom Kaminski

Post by UJO
What the top speed of a fire truck?

Do you mean a European or African fire truck?

Laden or unladen?

[Scott Millington]

Post by Kevin S.

Post by Tom Kaminski

Post by UJO
What the top speed of a fire truck?

Do you mean a European or African fire truck?

Laden or unladen?

You beat me to it.

Ofcourse after 9/11 Monty Python could renovate the act a littel ands
ask "Laden, unladen or Bin Laden"

["P. Hardewig" <[e-mail]>]

Depends.

If you're the person whose house is on fire, the answer is "NOT FAST
ENOUGH!"

We have ours governed out at 65 mph - and STILL some ****** passed us in a
50 mph zone (while responding with all warning devices in action).
He was in a company work truck and I DID manage to get my displeasure across
to his boss (big grin).

Stay safe, all!
Lt Pat

Post by UJO
What the top speed of a fire truck?

[asadi]

I just want one that goes real fast uphill...or is it uphill real fast?

john

Post by "P. Hardewig" <***@fuse.net>
Depends.
If you're the person whose house is on fire, the answer is "NOT FAST
ENOUGH!"
We have ours governed out at 65 mph - and STILL some ****** passed us in a
50 mph zone (while responding with all warning devices in action).
He was in a company work truck and I DID manage to get my displeasure across
to his boss (big grin).
Stay safe, all!
Lt Pat

Post by UJO
What the top speed of a fire truck?

[Bronksman]

Does it really matter? As long as you get there safely to do the
job...that's all that count! Right?
Safety before!

Have a safe one!

[Ryan, KC8PMX]

Depends on the truck, its capabilities and age etc..... I would say that
most can do at least 60-65 but some are capable of doing more than that as
some fire trucks have "governors" on the engines and some do not. I would
say a large percentage are diesels and therefore are definitely not "quick
out of the gate" but will reach their top speeds....


--
Ryan, KC8PMX
FF1-FF2-MFR-(pending NREMT-B!)
--. --- -.. ... .- -. --. . .-.. ... .- .-. . ..-. .. .-. . ..-.
.. --. .... - . .-. ...

Post by UJO
What the top speed of a fire truck?

[Mike Painter]

Our Pierce Dash, of which I am the driver, tops out at 80 mph. Per our SOP
we aren't allowed to go over 75 mph. Anyone else drive a Dash? They are
pretty quick little trucks and great on acceleration, even with 750

gallons

of water and 40 gallons of foam.

Junk, nothing but junk.

Ummm, you wouldn't want to trade it for a pretty red real fire engine would
you.
It's only about 30 years old and, umm, all the lights and the siren work
well.
The water under it is not a leak and we can try to fix it again.

[Jon]

Umm, what?

Post by Mike Painter

Our Pierce Dash, of which I am the driver, tops out at 80 mph. Per our SOP
we aren't allowed to go over 75 mph. Anyone else drive a Dash? They are
pretty quick little trucks and great on acceleration, even with 750

gallons

of water and 40 gallons of foam.

Junk, nothing but junk.
Ummm, you wouldn't want to trade it for a pretty red real fire engine would
you.
It's only about 30 years old and, umm, all the lights and the siren work
well.
The water under it is not a leak and we can try to fix it again.