Fire Trucks or Fire Engines? By Kaitlyn Butcher
Every now and then we hear firefighter vehicles responding on the streets, going to help people, or to stop fires. We normally refer to these trucks as fire trucks, however the majority of the time they are fire engines. A fire truck contains the tools and supplies, otherwise called the rescue equipment. While, fire engines contain the essential equipment to stop fires such as: many hoses, pumps, ladders, and water tanks. Internal Water Tanks: The first component of fire engines are there is an
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internal water tank and pump. The function of the pump is to suck up water from an outside source (fire hydrant, river, lake, etc). Uniquely, this pump leads to a large tank at the bottom of the truck, called the drop tank. The drop tank stores the water from the outside source, carrying a total capacity of 500 gallons. In addition, a fire engine contains a primary tank inside the center of fire truck that holds 400 gallons of water. This water that is stored in the primary water tank has been pre-stored inside, incase there is no local water source near the location of the fire.
â—? Fire Trucks or Fire Engines?
STEMATIX MagazineÂ
