TL;DW:
Fire department specifications in the US mean that the trucks are wildly oversized for no reason, while European and East Asian ones are smaller, more maneuverable, and safer despite serving the exact same purpose and having the exact same gear. These needlessly oversized trucks are a detriment to safe urban design because fire departments lobby local governments to keep streets ridiculously wide because their trucks can’t properly drive through reasonably sized streets. The size of fire trucks could be reduced and more specialized vehicles used for EMS (which makes up the overwhelming majority of fire department responses), and it would have no impact on the readiness of fire departments at worst or, at best, it would make response times quicker.
TL;DW: Fire department specifications in the US mean that the trucks are wildly oversized for no reason, while European and East Asian ones are smaller, more maneuverable, and safer despite serving the exact same purpose and having the exact same gear. These needlessly oversized trucks are a detriment to safe urban design because fire departments lobby local governments to keep streets ridiculously wide because their trucks can’t properly drive through reasonably sized streets. The size of fire trucks could be reduced and more specialized vehicles used for EMS (which makes up the overwhelming majority of fire department responses), and it would have no impact on the readiness of fire departments at worst or, at best, it would make response times quicker.