Now I get to drive the fire engine. Wanted to do that since I was about 6.

YAY!!
neee naawwwww neee naawwwww neee naawwwww neee naawwwww neee naawwwww neee naawwwww neee naawwwww neee naawwwww neee naawwwww neee naawwwww neee naawwwww neee naawwwww neee naawwwww neee naawwwww neee naawwwww neee naawwwww neee naawwwww neee naawwwww etc etc

we were discussing fire engines the other day.

i dont think they are THAT heavy, not like an Artic at up to 60Tonnes.
but hard to drive quick?
uprated brakes to keep all that water under control perhaps?

how heavy are they?

are they basicly just box lorries? or are they truck cabs on shorter chassis?

how many gears do you get?!

questions questions!!

About 18 tonnes. Slow to accelerate. Not sure how many gears.

full of water? that’ll make it fun!

Did being aware of cyclists undertaking on the nearside crop up in the test? 😉

I’ve only been in one once and was surprised how much body roll they had from the water carried on board. Probably no worse than any other tanker I expect but surprised me (it was on a call so they were driving faster than I would expect from a regular truck driver)

Fantastic. Green waves and all that.

Psling, I tell you what, with the best will in the world and me considering myself very aware of cyclists it has been frightening how easy it is to miss other road users sitting up in the cab. It’s certainly changed my perception of lorry drivers. So many mirrors and so easy to cut someone up.

Nice one, well done.

Will you get to do a fast response course now then? Ours is called Emergency Fire Appliance Driving but they changed the name of it because it was becoming Extremly Fast And Dangerous instead 🙄

Yep. Got my efad course at the end of the month. Just been out in the engine. Much easier to drive than the lorry I did my test in.

18 tons is probably 12 gears, possibly split axle (low first, high first, low second, etc)
the lgv test doesn’t cover the wave effect when carrying liquids – you’re driving along, having a jolly nice time, thinking about murdering prostitutes (according to Mr J Clarkson), when you have to brake suddenly. the truck slows, but the water doesn’t (inertial forces) so most of the water surges to the front of the tank, which counteracts the braking effect of the wheels, causing the vehicle to surge forward. But then the water, having hit the front of the tank surges backwward (wave effect), lifting weight from the front of the vehicle making it difficult to steer. Cue a jackknife event if the vehicle’s articulated, or fun and games if this is in busy city streets.
Not much a problem with modern equipment because most tanks today are fitted with baffle plates especially to stop this sort of thing from happening.

Have fun.