fire truck
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The LAFD will operate the first electric fire truck in North America next year
The Los Angeles City Fire Department (LAFD) will be the first department in North America to purchase an electric fire truck. It's confirmed that it has put in an order for a model from Austrian-based manufacturer Rosenbauer, and will take delivery of it next year.
NTSB says Tesla Autopilot was partly to blame for 2018 crash
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) cited both driver error and Tesla's Autopilot design as the probable causes of a January 2018 crash, in which a Model S slammed into a parked fire truck at about 31 mph. According to the report, the driver was distracted and did not see the fire truck. But NTSB says that Tesla's Autopilot was also at fault, as its design "permitted the driver to disengage from the driving task."
China builds a jet-propelled water cannon, just because it can (video)
Just what does $456,000 buy you these days? Well, if you happen to run the fire department of China's Luoyang City, the answer is a jet-propelled water cannon capable of spraying four tons of water per minute. That pretty much qualifies it for a "terminal velocity" badge, as the water is said to move at such speed as to choke fires from the oxygen surrounding them. Maximum range for this blaze blaster is 120 meters (nearly 400 feet), though you'll need to only move a fraction of that distance to click past the break and watch the awesome video of it in action.
