Renault Type LO Camion "Pompiers"

Renaults contribution to firefighting
 
It was throughout the 1920s in which numerous fire brigades discovered the motorized vehicles for themselves and continuously replaced the horse-drawn carriages that had been used until then. This was just as true in Germany as it was in France. At that time, however, there were only a few companies that specialized in the requirements and wishes of fire departments. First and foremost, niche suppliers conquered a new group of buyers, but of the larger plants, the Renault plant also decided to serve this clientele.

It was company boss Louis Renault himself who took care of the needs of the public administration and also became aware of the demand of the fire brigades for modern means of transport for firefighting.

As the LO model, Renault offered its fire truck as standard in the range of products. As it was customary at the time, Renault designed the body of its fire engine with no doors and no roof. Four men took a seat on a spartan double bench seat made of wooden strips arranged parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle, while the driver and front passenger sat relatively comfortably on an upholstered bench seat as usual.

These seats took up a lot of space, which meant that the necessary extinguishing utensils had to be distributed elsewhere. The drum with the hose was mounted at the rear end – as it was still the case many years later. For the fixed hose pieces, on the other hand, the Renault technicians found a clever solution – they were fitted along the long-drawn-out front fenders.