From Firetrucks Go High Tech:
Fire engines aren’t what they used to be. Today’s trucks are bigger, faster, safer and smoother-riding. They look like traditional firetrucks, but they can be equipped like ambulances or command centers, with state-of-the-art electronics, communications systems and climate control to make sure vials of medicine are kept cool. In addition to putting out fires, these trucks are used to extract people from crumpled cars, resuscitate heart-attack victims, reinforce collapsing buildings and analyze chemical spills.The price of a single rig frequently exceeds $500,000 and occasionally tops $1 million. The Federal Bureau of Investigation paid $1.4 million for a high-technology command center vehicle to coordinate security at last January’s presidential inauguration. Although the number of trucks sold in North America has held steady at about 5,500 annually for the past five years, revenue at their makers has been increasing as equipment prices have shot up. Firetruck makers estimate the industry’s annual revenue at $2 billion, a number that is likely to rise as municipal budgets rebound.