Three XXL trucks at €450,000 for the Calvados firefighters: what will they be used for?

Since this Wednesday, June 26, 2024, the Calvados firefighters are equipped with Three new XXL off-road trucks ! These large capacity tankers can contain 10,600 liters of water.

600 hectares of fields on fire in 2022

The Calvados Department made an observation after the summer of 2022: more than 600 hectares had gone up in smoke that summer. L’purchase of new, more suitable equipment to the uses of firefighters has therefore become a necessity.

In the summer of 2022, cultivated areas burned 35 times more than a usual year in Calvados. We are seeing global warming, no region is spared, it is factual. As soon as it is hot, the land quickly dries… We learned from the summer of 2022 and these 10,000 liter water trucks are an additional intervention force, not to mention that they allow the firefighters to be able to intervene from the inside without being exposed and these vehicles are versatile.

450,000 euros per XXL truck

So far, three large capacity all-terrain tanker trucks have been delivered to the Calvados firefighters, at a cost of 450,000 euros per truck.
Two more are expected for thesummer 2025, as well as four medium-sized 4,000 liter tank trucks (two for the beginning of 2025) and three 4×4 cars (including two for the end of 2024). ” It’s a very important investment“, continues Colonel Christophe Auvray. “The Department of Calvados is providing 1.8 million euros in aid and the State is providing a subsidy of 1.2 million euros for the next vehicles.”

A behemoth with impressive figures

These new off-road trucks offer impressive figures : a weight of 26 tonnes each (the biggest fire truck in Calvados), 380 horsepower under the hood (with a speed limited to 95 km/h) and a cannon projecting water at 65 meters (compared to 30 m previously). Not to mention that you can fill your tank in three minutes flat and that he can dump 2,000 liters per minute !

It’s a real strike force to put out a fire. Their primary purpose concerns fires in natural areas and forest fires, but it can be very useful on a farm, heavy goods vehicle, hydrocarbon or industrial company fire.

“These trucks are just magical!”

After climbing three high steps and 2.50 meters, the interior of these XXL all-terrain trucks offers three seats to the firefighters. These trucks are just magical“, says Aldéric Madeleine, one of the firefighters’ driving trainers. “These new generation vehicles are very comfortable“Even climbing a 30° slope seems easy.

In intervention, firefighters can intervene in using a water cannon using a joystickfor example, stay safe indoors. A self-protection system allows 600 liters of water to be spread over the cabin and tires to prevent firefighters from burning inside. “When it comes to this, it’s to save your own skin.”

These XXL trucks located in Lisieux, Bayeux and Bretteville-sur-Laize

These three new trucks enter service this Monday July 1st 2024. They will be located in Lisieux, Bayeux and Bretteville-sur-Laize. Driver training began this Friday, June 28.

Of the first attempts took place this Thursday, June 27 on the site of the Calcia company in Ranville, with whom the firefighters signed an agreement to exercise on the 143 hectares of the site.
In total, one hundred firefighters from Calvados will be trained to drive this XXL truck.

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