When I was in the fire department many many years ago, we were debating buying a new fire engine, and we finally decided on a cabforward design, which has the cab in front of the engine. For the life of me I cannot remember what we called the design which had the engine out front like most cars and trucks.

Nor can I remember the argument in favor of the cabforward design, unless it was that this design enabled the engineers to put two jump seats facing backward behind the main cab, one on each side of the engine.

When I started with the fire department the driver and the officer sat up front in the cab, while the firefighters rode on the back step, holding on to a grab bar. Later they required that these people have a safety harness and now it is apparently illegal to ride back there at all. Probably a good thing, because I can remember one time when I was riding the rear step and the engine went into an uncontrolled skid in the rain, ending up skidding backwards for a hundred feet or so in the oncoming lane. About the time the engine got sideways in the road though, I had bailed off into the weeds, not wanting to take my chances on getting crushed between the fire engine and an oncoming car. I got yelled at by the officer who said I should just have climbed on top. Easy for him to say he was all nice and cozy and dry up front (well I guess in back at that point).


TEd