**A Tour Inside an Aero XT Fire Engine**

We're excited to take you on a tour of this massive fire truck, the Aero XT. This behemoth of a vehicle is powered by a Detroit DD13 12.8 liter inline-six turbo diesel engine, which produces about 470 horsepower and almost 1800 foot-pounds of torque.

**The Powerhouse**

As we explore the engine compartment, you'll notice it's packed with hardware for the engineer to couple hoses together. This compartment also houses the water extinguisher, used for kitchen fires where water will actually help put out the flames.

**Inspecting the Engine**

Before getting into the cab, let's take a closer look at the engine itself. The Aero XT is powered by a Detroit DD13 12.8 liter inline-six turbo diesel, which makes about 470 horsepower and almost 1800 foot-pounds of torque. All this power is sent to the rear wheels through a six-speed Allison transmission in a vehicle that weighs 40,000 pounds.

**Inside the Cab**

Let's get into the cab and take a look around. The driver side panel has a tachometer so the engineer can see the engine speed, which powers the pump in this truck. The onboard water pump takes water from either the onboard tank or a fire hydrant and gets it to the fire hoses, allowing firefighters to do their job.

**The Brains of the Operation**

Inside the cab, we find a lot of electronics and controls. There's a big switch panel with labeled lights like driver side flood lights, which is very cool. Up top, there are tons of roof lights, a siren button (which I'm not going to touch right now), air conditioning, and radios for communication.

**The Firefighter Seat**

Notice the firefighter seat has a locking mechanism for his breathing apparatus. He can sit down in the seat, put on the device, and be locked in until it's time to go. The captain has a computer where he can monitor all the truck's functions, as well as radios for communication.

**The Antenna Array**

On top of the cab, we see a lot of antennas for communication. One of them is called the AVL (Automatic Vehicle Locator), which lets dispatch know where all the fire engines are so they can call the closest engine to an emergency.

**Controlling Traffic Lights**

We also have an antenna that controls traffic lights up to 300 feet away. This means firefighters can make traffic lights green as they approach intersections, allowing them to get to the scene faster.

**Sirens and Flashing Lights**

Side note: flashing your lights at traffic lights doesn't do anything; you need a special antenna like this one to control traffic lights.

**Firing Up the Fire Engine**

I'm going to fulfill a childhood dream by firing up the fire engine. I won't rev it or anything, but this is very cool. Let's get the lights and sirens going.

**Big Shout Out**

A huge mega shout out to our friends at Oxnard FD for hooking us up with this beast. Follow them on Instagram at @oxnardcityfire. These guys are heroes and they're also really, really cool.

**Thanks to Our Friends**

Major thanks to Oxnard PD for putting us in touch with the rad captain here. Don't forget to be nice!

**New Socks on the Store**

Hey guys, we have new socks on the Donut Media store. Check them out and get yourself some Moe Powell baby socks.

Note: The original text has been formatted and organized into paragraphs for easier reading, but no words or sentences were removed or summarized.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en(screaming)- Fire trucks!They're huge and loudand they save your crap from burning down.They've been highly specialized vehiclesever since they were invented.But what are these things built on?What's all inside there?Well put on your fireproofsuits boys and girls,we're going little hose to big hose,compartment to compartment to compartment,bumper to bumper,on this Pierce Arrow XT fire engine.(upbeat music)Fire trucks are totally unique machinesand current day fire trucksare extremely customizable.Everything from the chassis cab sizeto your engine and transmission options.Today, we're gonna look at howthe Oxnard California Fire Departmentconfigured their newestfire engine to serve theirmostly urban territory.The particular fireengine we're looking atis what's known as a pumper,and it has it's own on-board water tank,along with a whole lot ofother tools and equipment thatwe'll get to shortly.A fire engine like thiswill be in service for about13 to 15 years.Overall, the Pierce ArrowXT is a thick, wide boy,but at 95 inches,it's actually one of the narrower models.The steering can do a45 degree cramp angle.What's a cramp angle, you ask?Well, it's apparentlythe maximum wheel angleat full steering lock.Better cramp angle makesit more maneuverableand able to get through tighter spaces,a good thing for an engine on city duty.It even has four wheelindependent suspensionto give it a better ride.The frame rails aremade from 120 KSI steeland are over 13 inches wide for increasedchassis strength and good handling.Good for its size at least, it'sa fire engine.It has a healthy 15inches of ground clearancein case it needs to climb over any debrasor debris in its wayand, it's also redbut if I do this,now it's yellow.It's called graphicaleffects, I don't know!(laughing) All right, yousee that panel over therewith all the things on it?Let's go look at it, it'scalled the pump panel.This truck carries 500 gallons of waterand 20 gallons of foam on board,and I talked to the fire captain,he says that's aboutenough water for four minutes of spraying.Any more than that and theygotta hook up to a fire hydrant,which they do with this, right here.So, this is somethingcrazy I learned today,not every firemen is a firefighter.Let me explain.On this engine thereare three crew members.You have the engineer,who runs this pump and drives the truck,you got the captain,who strategized how they'regonna put out the fireand then you got the firefight himself,who is more of a workhorse,does kind of a little bit of everything.Okay, so a fire engine gets to a fire.The firefighter hops out,he's grabbing one of thesehoses, he's running in,he's got four minutes todo what he's gotta do.In the meantime, the engineerwho was driving the truck here gets out,he has to find the nearest fire hydrantconnect one of the bigass hoses in the backto this inlet here.He turns on the pump,he makes sure there'swater flowing everywhere,but to do that he'salso got to come in hereand do hand calculationson this spreadsheetto make sure that the firefighterand the captain have enoughwater to do their job.Then, after he's done that,he's probably gonna hop inthere too and get, get it done.I thought this thingcarried like eight dudes.There's three dudes perfire engine, that's crazy.The engineer has got allthe information he needs.He's got the engine RPM,he's got a digital waterlevel gage right here,but if that fails,there's also a very old-schoolwater gage right herethat can tell him exactlyhow much water is in his tankjust by looking at thisclear piece of glassbut not all fires are bestfought with plain old H2Oand the fire departmenthas to be prepared to fightany kind of inferno.So in addition to the on-board water,this pumper also carries20 gallons of foamto help put out hydrocarbonfires, boat fires,or stubborn cardboarddebris and trash fires.The engineer is ableto change how much foamgoes into the water mixwith this panel right here.He can do it on the flyand of course, big redbuttons are very important.This one operates theair horn on the truckif the chief gives the orderfor all the firefightersto get the heck out,engineer hits this for 10seconds, they gotta go.Speaking of going, let's golook at all the compartmentsmaybe I can find a hose to use.Everything on this truckhas a very specializedand specific place.So, any fireman in the departmentcan quickly find what they need.Hey, these are all the toolsthat you would probably need to eitherforcefully get into a house like this,whoa, flat back axe and this other toolwhich I guess is more of anold-school East Coast thing.You could pry doors open.On 90% of structure fires thatthe, this engine response tothey use this stuff.I'll just uh, come on, nothat's not how that goes.Other way Noaln, other way.So yeah, you got your shovels.You got a big drywall hookto tear walls down with.Something weird Ithought that they had wasthese big old squeegees right,they got these big oldsqueegees just in case likea sprinkler system breaks in doors.The fire departmentcan quickly clean it upwith this thing, that's pretty cool.Come on, everyone's favorite tool.I did get it out.I mean what more do wehave to say, it's an axe.I feel so cool like this.Right here is the engineers SCBAor self-contained breathing apparatus so,the dudes done working the pumps he canhop into the fire if he needs to.There's also extra oxygentanks in this compartment here.Another interesting feature,a bunch of tarps down here.If your furniture hasn't burned upthey'll actually group it all together,cover it with these tarps to keep it safe.They also have tarps to put on your floorsand carpets so they don't mess it upwhen they're walking around.I think that's very courteous of them.All right, now that we've seen thedriver's side of the trucklet's go to the rear,check out what's back there.All right, from top tobottom on the back here.Of course we've got the hoses,the one in the middle hereis what the fire engine usesto connect to a fire hydrant.These big boys can pump 250gallons of water per minute.On either side we've got high rise hoses.Have you ever like, taken the stairsin a big building instead of the elevator,you see those big water connectors?Yeah, that's what these guys hook to.It's so firefighters canput out a fire on like the8th floor of a building.It's very useful.They can also be linkedtogether in case the firefighterneeds more hose.Probably the workhorseor work hose if you willof the fire engine is thisrubber hose in the back.They use this hose for vehicle firesand for wildfires that areon the side of the freeway.It can self retract.It's just very useful.Captain told me that theyprobably use this one the mostjust 'cause it's so convenient.Oh, that's a nice noise.Another cool old-schoolfeature on the back hereis this button that lets the engineerknow to stop if you'rehanging on the back.They don't really do thatanymore, ride back herebut it's just cool thatit, that's still there.Another cool thing is thesebig bearings right hereso you can use that rubber hosewithout catching on the truckand of course every big truckneeds the rear view camerawhich they have right there.All right, let's check outthe other side of the truck.There's only one wayto open this thing up,you gotta clap.Whoa, that's stupid.It's mostly medical andrescue equipment on this side.Down here is the most usedcompartment of the truck.Tons of first aid.Believe it or not, thisis all climbing gearfor cliff side rescues.This has like tons of like carabiners.There's climbing rope in here,100 foot ropes, belay ropes,lifelines, what have you.In here they've got abunch of life jackets'cause Oxnard has five miles of coastlineso they respond to and stuff as well.Over here there's moretraction stuff for firstaid in case you breaka leg or something.This is their wildlandsurvival packs so they've got,shelters in here, otherthings they need when outon a brush fire out inthe middle of nowhere.Right here is the captain's SCBA.These packs have about30 minutes of oxygenbut when you're workingsuper hard fighting a fireit's actually more about15 minutes of oxygen.That's why they have so many tanks.There's the co2 fire extinguisherand the dry chem fire extinguisherbut the most commonly used one,it's actually a big waterone they have at the frontand then down here just bigbuckets of kitty litter.Just in case there's like an accidentand they're need, there'ssome sort of substanceon the ground that needs to be soaked upand directly above meis all the ladders that this truck needs.There's a 28 foot ladder,a 14 foot ladder anda 10 foot attic ladderand underneath the racetthere's a big black hosethat they use to suck upwater from lakes or poolsif there's no access to a fire hydrant.All right, let's check out thepanel on the passenger side.All right, so the panelon the passenger side,not as crazy as the one on thedriver's side, that's fine.There's still a bunchof inlets and outletsfor water to be used, more hoses.This compartment herehas some hardware for theengineer to couple hoses together.This looks expensive.In this compartment here wehave the water extinguisher.It's used for kitchen fires and,you know, fires wherewater will actually help.It's not every fire gets put up by water,that's what the foams for.Anyway, I think before we get in the cabwe gotta look at the engineand to look at the enginewe need, the cab lift.This Aero XT is powered bya Detroit DD13 12.8 literinline-six turbo diesel.It makes about 470 horsepowerand almost 1800 foot-pounds of torque.All sent to the rearwheels through a six-speedAllison transmission.In a vehicle that weighs 40,000 pounds,you're gonna need allthe grunt you can get.It's also got a tilt cabso the engine can be easilyaccessed for easy maintenance.Remember how in the driver sidepanel there is a tachometerso the engineer couldsee the engine speed.This is what powersthe pump in this truck.Power goes through the engine,through the drive shaft to a transfer casethat powers the onboard water pump,either taking water from the onboard tankor from the fire hydrant andgetting it to the fire hosesso the firefighters can do their job.Now that we've seen theheart of this engine,let's go see the brains.All right,it's a lot harder with those gear on.All right so here we are.Inside a freaking fire truck.The(beep)is actually very driver focused.Got a big switch panel witha ton of labeled lightslike driver side flood likeyou can see there, very cool.Up here there's a,there's tons of roof light.There's a siren button thatI'm not gonna touch right now.There's surprisingly, there'sair conditioning in this truckwhich actually makes sensebecause I'm very hot right now.There's tons of radios in hereas well so the engineer cancommunicate with the captain.These are actually verynoise canceling it,I can hear my own heartbeat.There's enough room forfour firefighters back thereand all their gear.The firefighter seat actuallyhas a locking mechanismfor his breathing apparatus.So he can sit down in theseat, put the thing on andbe locked in and thenwhen he, it's time to go,unlocks and lets them out.The captain has a computer therewhere he can monitor allthe trucks functions.The driver can do that as well.So we got the radio of course up here.There's just so much stuff in here.Of course the seat belts,they're red just like a Civic type-R.I think it's a littleslower than one of those.On top of the cab there are a lot ofantenna for communication.One of them is called the AVLor automatic vehicle locator.The AVL lets dispatch knowwhere all the fire engines areso they can call the closestengine to an emergency.The coolest antenna on thereis one that controls traffic lights.They can do it from up to 300 feet away.If they're approaching in intersections,they can make it green so theycan get to the scene faster.Side note, flashing yourlights at traffic lightsdoesn't do anything.You gotta have one ofthose special antenna.All right, so, I'm gonnafulfill a childhood dream here.I'm gonna fire up the fire engine.Let's do it.I'm not gonna rev it or anythingbut this is very cool.Turn on that.Got the lights going.Dare I do the siren, I think so.Hey, you're watching Bumperto Bumper on Donut Media.I'm gonna turn this off.Well that was cool.(laughing)That was awesome.(dramatic music)Huge mega shout out toour friends at Oxnard FDfor hooking us up with this beast.Follow them on Instagramat Oxnardcityfire.These guys are heroes andthey're also really, really cooland today was a totalchildhood dream come true.This is probably coolestvideo we've ever made.Also, major thanks to OxnardPD for putting us in touchwith the rad captain's hereand don't forget be nice.Hey guys, we have new sockson the donut media store.There Moe Powell baby socks,they're yellow, I love them.Go to donut.media get yourself some socks.They add five horsepower to your feet.Oh I got a helmet now, cool.(mumbling)- Isn't that backwards?- The hat is backwards.- No it's not.Oh, it is.I would have looked really stupid then.