The Landesfeuerwehrschule Baden-Württemberg, the state firefighter training center, has procured six new rescue firefighting vehicles on a Mercedes Atego chassis for fire department manager driver training. All six vehicles, equipped with Allison 3000 Series™ fully automatic transmissions, entered service in October 2023.

BRUCHSAL, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, February 2024 – The Landesfeuerwehrschule Baden-Württemberg (LFS), a leading training facility for fire department managers, is modernizing its fleet and has been using vehicles with Allison fully automatic transmissions for the first time. The Ziegler vehicles mounted on the Mercedes Atego 1527F 4 x 2 chassis and equipped with the Allison 3000 Series™ fully automatic transmission will be subjected to intense wear and tear by the course participants during training.

Following a Europe-wide tender, the Ziegler Atego fire engines equipped with the Allison 3000 Series with Power Take-Off and Retarder (PR) were awarded the contract. Instead of an automated manual transmission (AMT), which is fitted as standard in this Atego model, the State Fire Service School opted for a fully automatic transmission with torque converter and retarder.

"The trend is moving away from manual transmissions, and we at the Landesfeuerwehrschule Baden-Württemberg also recommend automatic transmissions for firefighting vehicles," said Kersten Wachter, responsible for technology and vehicle procurement at the Landesfeuerwehrschule.

Each vehicle is used for around 800 training sessions per year. The constant use as training vehicles puts the vehicles and the driveline under continuous stress, and all components face permanent wear and tear. As a result of the high demands placed on them, the vehicles are taken out of service approximately every 10 years.

"We need extremely robust vehicles for our purposes. When the participants are on site, the vehicles have to be ready for action,” said Wachter. “We can't afford any downtime, as this would disrupt our entire training schedule.”

Currently, the Landesfeuerwehrschule training fleet has around 40 vehicles, ranging from crew transport vehicles to state-of-the-art auxiliary firefighting vehicles from various manufacturers. In order to improve the quality of training for the team leader courses, the procurement of six identical firefighting vehicles has now become necessary. Previously, different vehicle models were in use, which meant that the instructor had to provide instruction on six vehicles from different manufacturers in one course.

The State firefighting school Baden-Württemberg in Bruchsal acts as a training and continuing education facility for managers of industrial and public fire departments, both volunteer and professional. The aim is to optimally prepare fire services to deal with complex tasks and emergencies. To achieve this, the LFS trains around 6,500 participants every year. The extensive training grounds of the LFS in Bruchsal (approximately 100 km from Stuttgart) enable realistic training in a real-life environment. Among the facilities are towers, houses, a 300-meter rail track with wagons, a storage building with hay and straw, a practice pond, an excavation pit and much more.

Allison 3000 PR calibrated for firefighting applications

The Allison 3000 PR transmission has been specifically designed for challenging firefighting applications. The intelligent transmission logic thinks for itself and supports the driver both on and off the road. Allison's patented torque converter multiplies the engine torque during start-up and acceleration, providing up to 35 % higher acceleration. Gear changes occur without any traction loss, resulting in seamless power transfer to the drive wheels and maximum engine and transmission efficiency.

"Allison transmissions also differ from other technologies due to their special firefighting performance calibration. A fully automatic transmission only really takes the strain off the driver on emergency drives if the shift strategy is precisely calibrated for these vehicles and the transmission virtually works together with the driver,” said Peter Brecht, OEM Account Manager at Allison Transmission. “Furthermore, Allison transmissions are equipped with two engine-speed-dependent Power Take-Offs for simultaneous operation of various auxiliary units. The Pump & Roll function allows the water pump to be operated via the Power Take-Off even when the vehicle is moving. An automated manual transmission cannot offer that.”

Allison fully automatic transmissions have proven their outstanding acceleration, reliability and robustness under the most demanding conditions and as a result are used by numerous fire fleets worldwide.

About Allison Transmission
Allison Transmission (NYSE: ALSN) is a leading designer and manufacturer of vehicle propulsion solutions for commercial and defense vehicles, the largest global manufacturer of medium- and heavy-duty fully automatic transmissions, and a leader in electrified propulsion systems that Improve the Way the World Works. Allison products are used in a wide variety of applications, including on-highway trucks (distribution, refuse, construction, fire and emergency), buses (school, transit and coach), motorhomes, off-highway vehicles and equipment (energy, mining and construction applications) and defense vehicles (tactical wheeled and tracked). Founded in 1915, the company is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. With a presence in more than 150 countries, Allison has regional headquarters in the Netherlands, China and Brazil, manufacturing facilities in the USA, Hungary and India, as well as global engineering resources, including electrification engineering centers in Indianapolis, Indiana, Auburn Hills, Michigan and London in the United Kingdom. Allison also has approximately 1,600 independent distributor and dealer locations worldwide. For more information, visit allisontransmission.com.