Interschutz 2022: British Fire Engine - Scania P370 XT/ Angloco - exterior/ lights - D&W Fire&Rescue

Here's a look at the exterior and light setup of a Scania P370 XT/ Angloco from Trowbridge/ Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue. The truck was on display at the Interschutz 2022 expo in Germany. More details about the emergency lighting below 🔽
What makes this (and other Angloco fire trucks) a bit special compared to other British fire vehicles is the fact that this rig is not having a regular lightbar in order to save money. Instead there are four Asian made corner lights, providing some lighting instead of proper primary warning. Furthermore there are 4 tiny and barely visible LED's above the windshield.
Primary warning is being done by the Whelen M4's of which 2 are in the grill, one on each the left and right sides and 4 in the rear plus an additional 2 in red for rear scene warning. Although the side facing M4's are pretty useless due to the fact that they're installed vertically. This makes them invisible when looking at them from any side angle.
Personally I believe that Angloco could have an equivalently cheap and much better and safer option by replacing the vertically mounted side facing M4's by horizontally mounted ION-T's since there's definitely space for those (or at least the Mini ION-T's).
Furthermore the top lighting could also be replaced by at least 4 ION-T's of which 2 could face forward and 2 sideways. This gives you the advantage of increased brightness as well as synchronization options with the M4's. The Whelen 2250 would also look great on this truck 😁
Interschutz 2022 expo, Hannover (Hanover), Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony), Germany, June 2022.

[@souris_62]

nice catch

[@eesti919]

Looks quite similar to Estonian trucks :P

[@Rummeltobi]

True! I think this is why I was feeling familiar with that look. 😄

[@fadeon1747]

💪🏻

[@craigclaassen7346]

Fire fighter driving"Why is no one moving out of the way?" Traffic "Out of the way of what?"

[@Rummeltobi]

This is what I thought as well. Although the guys from Angloco told me that they've received the feedback that this works. Primarily due to the M-series lights is what I'm thinking.

[@commanderb-tron931]

@@Rummeltobi a single beacon on a 30to truck, "works"! They build the shit because they are ordered to, by cost cutting contract.... Can't imagine, they wo ld sell it on their own decisions. Wir deutschen sind da aber weltweit führend💩 Btw was ist eigentlich mit der StVZO und ggf (d)einer Petition!?

[@Rummeltobi]

@@commanderb-tron931 I've talked to the Angloco team for a while and this is what they generally do on most (if not all) trucks now. They did the same on the other 3 large trucks that they were showing at Interschutz and they're all for different agencies. I can imagine that this (somewhat) works for agencies since the Whelen M4's are so damn bright that they take primary warning but I still miss a regular lightbar or at least proper lights on the top which are always visible. Apart from that a Whelen Freedom (that they've used to install on many rigs before) or a Justice would definitely improve warning output. So the truck is not invisible but it could definitely need better lights on the top. At least a bunch of T-ION's or the Whelen 2250 lightbar would combine their goal of saving money while still having a very good warning option for the top of the cab. Das stimmt, Deutschland ist der Vorreiter in Sachen Designblaulicht💩 Wobei auch Hersteller in Italien und ein paar anderen Ländern Konkurrenz machen. Der blöde KZbin-Kommentarfehler hat übrigens auch dein Kommentar erwischt... Wenn ich alle Antworten öffne, verschwindet deine Antwort. In der Vorschau ist sie allerdings noch vollständig da. Ich bin mir auch gerade unsicher, ob in den letzten Tagen/ Wochen auch ein anderes Kommentar von dir betroffen war, was ich nicht mehr sehen konnte. Zu den Petitionen und dem 52er gibt es ein Update, ich kopiere das mal von einer anderen Antwort, die ich vorhin jemand schon geschrieben hab 😄 Tatsächlich hatte sich in der Zwischenzeit etwas getan :) Ich habe eine postalische Rückmeldung zu allen eingereichten Petitionen erhalten, welche alle nochmal zusammenfasste. Aufgrund der Anzahl der Petitionen und dass diese teils ziemlich spezifisch sind, wurde angeboten, zwei zu veröffentlichen und die anderen so an die zuständigen Stellen weiterzuleiten. Allerdings bin ich mir unsicher, ob die Veröffentlichung jetzt klappt, da leider durch andere Dinge meine Antwort erst nach einigen Wochen erfolgte. Mein geplantes Video dazu werde ich vermutlich nochmal abändern, da in den letzten Monaten einige neue Punkte kamen und teilweise ziemlicher Schwachsinn im Raum stand. Ja, der 52er wird definitiv nochmal angepasst. Dazu gibt es eine vom deutschen Feuerwehrverband vorgeschlagene Fassung, die als wahrscheinlich gilt und ich in das Video einbinden mag. Allerdings ist diese Fassung auf mehreren Ebenen unlogisch und möglicherweise gesetzeswidrig, weswegen ich Zeit und Energie erstmal dahingehend investiert habe, die Zuständigen zu erreichen bevor das noch durchgewunken wird. Bei der Interschutz hatte ich das Glück, eine email-Kontaktmöglichkeit zu den Zuständigen der FA Technik vom deutschen Feuerwehrverband bekommen. Gleichzeitig hatte ich bei einer Anfrage an das Bundesministerium für Verkehr auch die email der dort zuständigen Abteilung bekommen und in dieser Woche erstmal eine kurze Erklärung (über 3 A4-Seiten) geschrieben, was an dem geplanten Gesetzestext nicht sinnvoll, widersprüchlich, nicht praxisnah und unrealistisch ist. Bin mal gespannt, ob darauf etwas kommt.

[@kryzondaan1855]

Those corner lights on the cab roof are quite popular in the UK, in amber. Definitely not bright enough to be used in blue, or even in amber for "serious" warning. It's funny that they have fitted 4 M4s to the back. Why? If those slimline 3-LED lightheads are good enough for the roof, why not fit them on the back as well? It doesn't matter what the blue lights are like though. The money gets spent on the squares and if a fire engine has those, it is completely visible:D

[@Rummeltobi]

I definitely agree. The basic idea of these lights is actually good but they're just not bright enough. Pssssssst - don't give them ideas for more bad decisions 😄 I know what you mean with that stupid immersion and thinking that battenburgs make that much of a difference. I don't get it why agencies would not invest in proper emergency lighting which is their 1st and more important insurance for emergency responses.

[@marco_grt4460]

When cutting corners on safety equipment can cause more issue. With the Italian emergency vehicles I criticize a lot about the fact that they assemble FedSig Vama lights and speakers or do-it-yourself lights from companies that set up the vehicles (in some cases I am surprised by the results), but at least they put a lot of effort into it. Here they missing that

[@Rummeltobi]

Exactly. I wouldn't save on emergency lighting and sirens. Unfortunately not too many realize that lights & sirens are the first and most important type of insurance against accidents. That's true about the design lights, they put a lot of effort in those but the results are usually (very) questionable and poor. Angloco received the feedback that this solution works - although I'd say primarily because of the M-series lights. They could still show a bit more love when it comes to lights and sirens, for example with my idea that I've mentioned in the description 😄

[@ViperUK]

wonder if the laughing in the background was at how ridiculous the lights look on this...

[@Rummeltobi]

I don't think so. I usually notice it when people talk about lights 😄