Sure seems like a massive and heavy truck to take on a medical call.
Engines and trucks (trucks are specified by being equipped with a minimum of 163 feet of ladders onboard) are usually housed in the same station, not many trucks by themselves, but not as many trucks as engines in most departments. The engine usually takes medical calls, so the truck only rolls when the engine is already committed or, in our case (I drive a straight ladder quint), the truck is closer. Our dispatch center tracks our position and something like Google Maps calculates which unit can get to the scene first. If we're out doing hydrants we might get a medical call, if dispatch (god) thinks we could get there sooner than the engine.
It's all about the quickest response time. In our city, we have a program called "Four Minutes to Excellence". Our stations are located so, in most cases, the first unit will arrive in under four minutes from dispatch. The firefighters have to always be ready to respond to a fire as a crew, so we take the big 'ol truck everywhere we go, 'cause it has all our "Puttin' out fires" stuff on it. We do double duty as EMS first responders, but our specialty is keeping small fires from getting big. In Fresno, for a garden variety residential (single-family dwelling) fire, we send three engines and two trucks initially. Commercial or multi-family gets five engines and two trucks. Most of them arrive within ten minutes, so there's lots of help there fast.
I can't watch this video at work, the City apparently doesn't trust us to You Tube responsibly. I'll check it out tomorrow. I bet my truck's cleaner. I work at one of the slowest stations in our department.
Next week's lecture: Two-in, two-out....
