Extraordinary Emergency Service Vehicles In The World

Not all ambulances, fire trucks, or even police cars are made equal. Depending on the situation, emergency service vehicles may need to tackle impossibly tough terrain, adapt to dangerous conditions, or even reach breakneck speeds to save the day! Let's explore some of the most incredible emergency service vehicles in the world.

600hp Isuzu Giga MAX EXZ Ambulance

Japan is home to a variety of eclectic and innovative vehicles, but none can contest with the sheer size of their Super Ambulance, a brilliant behemoth that is a modified heavy duty vehicle which has been transformed into one colossal ambulance.

Driving down the street, you might mistake it for any other truck, but when it’s parked up it really spreads its wings, literally! Both the left and right sections of the main body expand out by 6 ½ ft, giving it 430 square ft of usable floor space. That’s about three times the truck’s original size. And it puts every inch to good use!

内部公開！ 最新型 東京消防庁 スーパーアンビュランス by 119 fire

The added space turns the truck into an emergency first aid facility, which can be dispatched to accident or disaster sites with multiple casualties. An astounding 8 separate beds can fold out of the walls when it’s fully extended, giving medics plenty of room to work.

Boeing 747-446 Global Supertanker: The World’s Biggest Fire Engine

When you think of the world’s biggest fire engine, you might imagine a huge red vehicle with lots of flashing lights and ladders. But the only ladder you’ll find here are the 12 steps leading to the upper deck of the humungous Boeing 747-446 Global Supertanker, pictured in the image below!

That awe-inducing plane is based in Colorado Springs and is used routinely to help put out massive wildfires that threaten to tear across the surrounding areas. But why use a plane to fight the fire instead of a truck?

Well for a start, the 231 ft Supertanker can carry a colossal 19,200 gallons of extinguishing agent, that’s over 15,000 gallons more than the largest fire truck in the world! Not only that, but its state of the art delivery systems use compressed air to force the extinguishing agent out of 4 valves on either side of the plane while flying at a height of just 400 ft!

Super Tanker English Master by Global Super Tanker

That means the crew can adjust their height, speed, and delivery rate to ensure they extinguish the fire without the impact of the extinguishing agent damaging the area further. On top of that, they can control the delivery in a series of segmented drops, or in one continuous drop up to 3 miles long!

With a top speed of 600 mph, that Colorado based vehicle can fly anywhere in the US in just 3 hours, and anywhere else globally in 20!

Yellowstone Ambulances

Winter in Yellowstone is a pretty chilly season, with the American national park receiving over 10 inches of snow on average every year! But what if a visitor were to accidently hurt themselves and get trapped in all that snow? Ambulances aren’t usually equipped to deal with roads piled with that much snow. And an injured tourist might not have time to wait for a snow plough!

Fortunately, Yellowstone Ambulances can be equipped with OverSnow capabilities! Since at least 1992, those ambulances have used a series of snow tracks and guiding skis. Unlike regular tires, those continuous tracks give the ambulance more grip on soft ground while spreading the weight of the vehicle out evenly.

With that improved traction, those ambulances can climb steep, slippery roadways, and even go off road if necessary! Over the years, those trusty tracks have been adapted to fit more modern emergency vehicles, enabling them to use their 4 wheel drives for an even safer ride over the snow! The weather may be cold, but those modifications are much cooler.

The BMW Isetta

Clearly being bigger is better for some emergency service vehicles. But one of the most iconic police cars in history proves it’s not about size, but how you use it! At just over 7 ft long and little over 4 ft high, the itty-bitty body of the Isetta resembles something more like a front opening egg than a vehicle.

Originally, that adorable microcar was designed to easily maneuver around the narrow, crowded streets of Italy back in 1953. But the compact design grabbed the attention of BMW, who in 1961 began building them specifically for police use.

For the German Durderstadt police force, that rolling egg mobile was given a lick of official green paint, a little flashing blue light, and even a radiotelephone. Seeing how small it is, with a measly 13 brake horsepower engine, many people assumed there was no way it would ever catch up with the criminals.

But at just 700 lbs with 10-inch wheels, it was deceptively speedy, and could reach up to 52.8 mph! It may not sound like a lot on a highway, but down a narrow side street it was a formidably fast force. guess that makes up for its lack of legroom!

Bimmerfest 2011 BMW Isetta Police Car Driving Away by First Word Car

The Search and Rescue Superjeeps

Iceland is renowned for its beautiful highlands and risky glaciers, the latter of which make up 10% of the islands interior. But it’s also known for weather that can turn at the drop of a hat, leaving many stranded in over a foot of snow that can fall in just a few hours.

So, how do the Icelandic search and rescue team get to lost sightseers in such treacherous conditions? The answer comes in the form of some seriously cool Superjeeps. Those are off-road, 4 by 4 vehicles that have been modified to support truly huge tires measuring up to 52 inches. They ‘re so large that they make quick work crossing small rivers and waterways.

But they’re not just for wading about in the shallows! When the pressure in the tires is reduced, they get slightly softer and can grip down on both deep snow and glacial ice with ease. Quickly letting air out of the tires means that the teams don’t waste time changing tires or adding on snow chains, so they can get to searching that much faster!

The Superjeeps are so invaluable that Iceland has a fleet of around 200 of those mini monster trucks ready to go at a moment’s notice. So, if you ever find yourself stuck on Iceland’s highlands, keep a look out for the balloon-tired truck undoubtedly heading your way.

The Morcambe Bay Sherps

In Northwest England sits the idyllic looking Morecambe Bay, an estuary that flows over a series of mudflats which disappear and reappear depending on the tides. But while that gorgeous English scenery attracts many walkers, most are unaware that the mudflats can turn into unpredictable minefields of quicksand.

That means unsuspecting visitors can suddenly find themselves hopelessly stuck in the sand with a high tide fast approaching! It’s that treacherous terrain which clearly isn’t car friendly that led the Morecambe Bay Search and Rescue team to procure one of the brilliant beasts in the image below!

The Sherp N 1200, an all terrain vehicle that’s been designed to conquer just about anything in its path. With extra low pressure 71-inch tires, that 2,645 lb vehicle measures in at just 13 ft in length. That means its weight can be even more equally distributed than vehicles like the Superjeeps, making it perfect to send out over quicksand.

Not only that, but that tiny tank can also conquer steep inclines of up to 35 degrees, and easily clambers over objects that are over 3 ft high! To make it even more perfect for the Morecambe Bay team, it’s also amphibious though it can only tackle high tides at a steady 3.7 miles per hour.

SHERP New by SHERP

But the teams won’t need to adjust their tires every time they change terrain, because Sherps have an inbuilt circulation system that change the pressure levels of the tires in seconds!

As indestructible as they seem, I don’t think the rescue team will be too reckless with their unit, seeing as just one cost a staggering £60,000, roughly $81,000! That may sound expensive for such a tiny truck, but they do say the best things come in small packages.

Hägglund BV206

But Sherps aren’t the only vehicle aiding Morecombe’s struggle against quicksand, they’re also the proud owners of a Hägglund BV206! It may look like a couple of baby tanks lashed together, but the Hägglund has proven to be one of the most versatile emergency vehicles over the years.

It was first developed back in the 1970’s as the Bandvagn 206, and was designed to be a tracked, all terrain carrier for the Swedish army. The two units consist of 4 powered tracks, effectively giving it 4 by 4 drive capability. Not only that, but its full length tracks combined with its lightweight body means it achieves an incredibly low ground pressure.

That allows it to effortlessly clamber over tough terrain, and it can also propel itself through water using its tracks. Able to carry a total of 17 people, with a maximum cargo weight of 4,940 lbs, that impressive little machine soon gained the attention of many other countries. But not just for military purposes!

The small unit support vehicle found uses carrying equipment for search and rescue units, medical deployments, and even fire departments around the world. Its amphibious nature means it’s also a firm favorite of lifeboat services, as it can drag lightweight boats from the water without having to race against the tide.

BSAR and West Kirby RNLI by Bay Search & Rescue

The MOWAG Eagles

When it comes to military matters, ambulances need to be as mobile and tactile as possible, because their injured could be in extremely dangerous areas like battlefields or disaster zones.

As such, Swiss manufacturers MOWAG have designed a tactical light vehicle that’s also a badass looking ambulance. The Eagle 6 x 6, pictured below, is a military ambulance that’s over 22 ft long, 7 ft wide, and 7 and a half ft high!

With a curb weight of almost 17,000 lbs, it’s only a little less heavy than a small American fire truck. And even with all that weight, it still has a respectable top speed of 68 mph. But those things were built for durability, not speed, so that it stands a fighting chance of reaching safety through mine fields and explosive terrain.

Its protective armoring is built to withstand a 6 kg explosion. For perspective, a 1 kg TNT explosion is enough to blast straight through a slab of concrete! While armoring like that is invaluable, Germany’s Ambulance Core recently purchased 80 vehicles for a staggering $159 million, that’s nearly $2 million each! But I guess you really can’t put a price on keeping people alive.

The Avtoros Shaman

You may think the Eagle 6 by 6 is the most badass ambulance on the planet, but that’s because you don't know about Russia’s 8 by 8 beast of an ambulance: the Avtoros Shaman. At more than 20 ft long, 8 ft wide, and nearly 9 ft high, it has enough room to fit four medical staff and two patients inside.

Along with those 8 massive, low pressure tires, that amazing ambulance is perfect for getting to people in hard to reach places. And that’s pretty important considering Russia’s landscape varies from frozen desert and coastlines to tall mountains and giant marshes.

Though it won’t be traversing them quickly, because its near 10,600 lb curb weight drags its top speed down to just 44 mph. Though when it’s faced with water, it doesn’t come to a full stop. Being an all terrain vehicle, it can tackle rivers or lakes at a steady 4.3 mph.

ATV Shaman 2016. English version. by AVTOROS

But being rescued by that beast doesn’t come cheap. The price of a single Shaman starts at just over €183,000, which is almost $225,000! That’s nearly the same price as a brand new Lamborghini Huracan. But between the two, you’d probably prefer being rescued from the Russian wilderness by the Shaman!

Hyundai's Walking Car: Project Elevate

When car manufacturer Hyundai began thinking about the challenges rough terrain poses for first responders, they started to reimagine basic vehicle design from the ground up. Or wheels up, to be more precise.

In 2019, the company shared their prototype, Project Elevate, with the world, but everyone thought the company had gone completely bonkers! Their "walking car" concept relies on a series of hip, knee, and ankle joints built into the car’s wheels, which extend like legs with the touch of a button.

Project Elevate | Hyundai by HyundaiUSA

Like a Boston Dynamics Robot merged with a Pokémon, that weird walker would in theory be able to climb steps, lift itself over water, and even jump over gaps! Odd as it looks, hypothetically that would be perfect for first responders who need to get to injured people in hard to reach areas like caves or forests. But the real question that everyone’s asking right now is: Could it hoist itself up and walk over traffic jams?

China's Future Police Car

When you imagine an anti-riot vehicle, what immediately comes to mind? It’s probably something like a big, boxy, steel structure with metal grates over the windows, right? Back in 2014, China brought a more futuristic design to the table. The bizarrely globular little car in the image below is the Zijing Qingyuan Armored Spherical Cabin Electric Patrol Vehicle.

It was developed specifically for anti-riot work by police forces, with its most unusual feature, the spherical cabin allowing policeman a secure 360 degree view of their surroundings. Despite all that glass, the car warrants a surprisingly high Chinese Level-A armor rating, meaning it can resist several shots from any nearby handguns.

But as clunky and un-aerodynamic as all that armoring looks, it can reach a respectable 50 mph. Modifications can also be made to the brilliantly bizarre exterior, with room for smoke grenade launchers behind its front indicators. Sadly or not, depending on how you look at it those cars have never been spotted out in the open and remain a pure prototype fantasy.

It could be because for all its windows the car has just one set of windscreen wipers, making it a little useless in bad weather. Officers could also reportedly fire their guns out of a hole in one of the windows, which would only be useful if the car was facing in the right direction! While it wasn’t a popular choice back in 2014, I’m sure it’ll come in handy if police ever need to start checking the skies for rioters.

The Miami PD Slingshot

While most emergency vehicles rely on 4 wheels, Miami PD surprisingly have one with just 3. Back in 2018, Polaris Industries donated one of their trademark Slingshots to the police department, complete with all their colors and livery. Weighing almost 1,750 lbs, it produces 173 horsepower and, with a 5-speed manual transmission, the Slingshot is just as fast as it looks!

It can achieve 0 to 60 mph in 5.5 seconds with a swift top speed of 130 mph. Usually, trikes like that pose a threat of rolling if they take a corner too fast, due to the inherent instability of their three wheeled design.

But the Slingshot has a front track of 69.1 inches, making it wider than the sturdy Chevrolet Corvette Z06! It reduces the risk of rolling even further with an oversized anti-roll bar. So, no matter how hard it takes a corner, it’ll keep all three of its wheels firmly on the ground.

But for all those amazing assets, the terrific little trike isn’t chasing down speeders on the South Beach. Instead, Miami PD use it for their community outreach programs.

They roll the incredibly cool vehicle into local communities to help break the ice, doing things like helping welcome children back to school! Kids in those communities are invited to sit in the car, press all the buttons, and get to know their local police department a little better.

The Robocue

Firefighters, police officers and other emergency service personal often risk their own lives to help people in disaster struck areas. But that doesn’t always have to be the case, thanks to Tokyo Fire Department’s fully robotic rescue vehicle: the Robocue!

This bizarre little red block was originally designed to help rescue victims in dangerous areas like bombsites or areas with hidden mines. But the infrared cameras and ultrasound technology it uses means it’s perfect for locating people trapped under debris, who might not be able to call out for help.

After events like earthquakes, which Japan is famously prone to, the Robocue can be used to explore dangerous sites, like damaged buildings and bridges. Once victims are located, the robot can be piloted remotely to their side.

There, the Robocue uses its conveyor belt and pincer like arms to gently pull the person into its shielded metal body and carry them to safety. And all without any risk to the rescue personnel involved!

That ingenious design was inspired after the events of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Deadly radiation events like that pose huge problems to emergency crews, who risk exposing themselves to fatal doses of radiation to rescue survivors. Fortunately, robots like Robocue can be modified to withstand radiation, meaning they can be used to save lives without risking any more.

The Ariel PL1

Common police cars in the UK don’t tend to stand out all that much. Sure, they have that fancy yellow and blue paint job, but many are based on run of the mill Vauxhall Astra’s, Vauxhall Insignia’s or BMW 5’s. But there’s one that really stands out from the pack: The Ariel Atom 3.5R, also known as Ariel PL1!

Back in 2014, The Avon and Somerset constabulary drafted that nifty little vehicle into their ranks to help tackle the regions escalating problem with motorcyclists. Avon and Somerset’s scenic roads attract bikers in droves over the summer months, but carelessly speeding along them can lead to horrific accidents.

Between 2005 and 2013, the region witnessed a shocking average of 143 motorcyclists per year seriously or fatally injured on the roads. So, the police decided to make speeding less enticing by bringing in Ariel PL1.

With a 350-brake horsepower engine, it could propel itself from 0 to 60 mph in just 2.6 seconds, making it one of the fastest accelerating cars in the world! Not only that, but it could also hit 100 mph in a mere 6 seconds. Those were stats that gave even the most experienced bikers a run for their money.

Ariel Atom - The Amazingly Fast Solution To Your Mid-Life Crisis | Car Review | Top Gear by Top Gear

But sadly, The Ariel PL1 wasn’t actually used to catch speedsters. It served as part of the police’s "Safer Rider" Campaign, simply aimed at making bikers think twice about zipping across the countryside.

And it worked! From 2014 to 2018, that average of 143 serious and fatal injuries dropped to just 96. Seems like the only thing that can convince those bikers to slow down isn’t the risk of a deadly accident, but of getting caught!

Dubai Police Supercars

Dubai is well known for being a city of excess and luxury, but even in that playground of the rich there are strict rules! And should any rich kid try to scoot away from them in a supercar, thinking they could make an easy escape, they’d be wrong.

Because the Dubai police force don’t just have fast cars, they have an entire fleet of some of the quickest cars ever produced. That includes a speed modified Lamborghini Aventador, which can launch from 0 to 60 mph in just 2.9 seconds!

There’s also a mouth watering Maserati GranTurismo, which has a staggering top speed of 186.4 mph. But the crowning jewel of their fine fleet is arguably the Bugatti Veyron! That supercar has a 1,200 horsepower engine which propels it like a rocket to a top speed of 253 mph.

All up, the 18 cars that make up that super fleet are estimated to be worth more than a whopping $24 million! But the Dubai Police aren’t done adding to their collection yet. They announced in 2019 that they have plans to purchase one of Tesla’s now famous Cybertrucks.

BEAST Patrol

Dubai’s police force doesn’t just have the most incredibly fast supercars in their fleet. They also own one of the most advanced police patrol vehicles in the world! And it’s got an incredible name to match, the Beast Patrol SUV, also known as the Ghiath.

That luxury hypercar is equipped with artificial intelligence systems, a touchscreen dashboard, as well as automatic number plate recognition! But it’s its facial recognition technology that really puts that SUV above the rest.

Using a retractable camera in its roof, the tech can recognize wanted criminals from afar, or even in crowded spaces! It also boasts state of the art communication systems that are linked directly to the police forces Command Operation Room, meaning they’re never out of the loop. Almost no other specifications about the Ghiath have been officially disclosed, but from its brutish appearance alone, no criminal would dare to mess with it!

دورية غياث by Dubai Police شرطة دبي

Dubai Police Hoverbikes

Another weapon in Dubai’s seemingly endless armada of mind blowing police vehicles comes in a slightly different form. With four whirling blades instead of wheels, the S3 2019 Hoverbike isn’t designed to travel across roads but over them!

The unique design of that Hoverbike also includes a pilot seat and joystick controls, making it look like the bizarre lovechild of a drone, a motorbike, and a gaming console! With a single frame carbon fiber body, the entire weight of that thing reaches just 253 lbs. And thanks to its 3 bladed carbon propellers, it can achieve a monumental 802 lbs of thrust, allowing it to achieve lift off even with someone on board!

Hoverbike S3 2019 Dubai Police flying lesson by HOVER OFFICIAL

But as cool as it looks there are a few draw backs. For an eye watering $150,000, that bike can only fly for 10 to 25 minutes with a pilot on board, or just 40 minutes as a drone. On top of that, it’s limited by law to have a maximum speed of just 60 mph, meaning it won’t be involved in any sky high speed chases any time soon!

I hope you were amazed at these extraordinary emergency service vehicles! Thanks for reading!