PUMPER
This is the truck you see most of the time. You may see them during Fire Prevention Week when the firefighters visit many schools and community fire-safety programs. Pumper trucks are sometimes called to car accidents because the gasoline in the car's tank may leak and catch on fire. A pumper truck is about 30 feet long and holds some water, but the tanker truck holds a lot more. The tanker truck will come when there is a fire and a lot of water is needed.
TANKER
This truck is about 30 feet long and holds more than 1,000 gallons of water. It is always kept filled with water. When there is a big fire, the tanker truck unloads its water in a canvas pond (a little swimming pool) that the firefighters set up. The pumper truck can pump the water from this pond so the tanker truck can leave to get more water. Sometimes there are no fire hydrants around, like in the county; so the tanker trucks will get the much needed water from ponds or even swimming pools.
LADDER
This truck has a very long ladder on top. The ladder is about 100 feet long. At the end of the ladder is a bucket for firefighters and arson dogs like me to get to the top of a building. Ladder trucks are much longer than pumpers or tankers. A ladder truck can be 40 to 50 feet long.
