As the temperatures outside take a dive, I thought that a fitting image to end the year would be this winter fire engine portrait taken in northern Alberta … when it was extremely cold. The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo Emergency Services/Fort McMurray Fire Department covers over 24,000 square miles with the help of several volunteer fire departments. The northern most portion of the municipality is separated by a lake. During the winter as the lake freezes, an ice road is built allowing motorized access for several months.
This engine is one of several that were build by Rosenbauer on a Freightliner chassis with the totally enclosed operator’s panel that is quite common in the colder regions of Canada/
I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining … I don’t want to say it was cold, but … I was able to remain outside of a running vehicle for less than five minutes at a time before all my batteries shutdown … I just kept getting back into the car and placing my batteries and gloves along the vent blowing heat on the highest setting.