Firefighters Gain New Electric Ladder That Fits Where Diesels Couldn’t, as Digital Extinguisher Checks Go Live
Published on 06/16/2026 at 19:07 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
A fully electric aerial ladder truck unveiled at the INTERSCHUTZ trade fair in Hannover in mid-June weighs less than 16 metric tons — a threshold that puts it within the weight limits of many German fire station parking areas where heavier diesel rigs cannot operate. The L32A-XS electric, built by Rosenbauer on a MAN eTGM chassis carrying a 178-kilowatt-hour battery, is expected to handle up to ten urban calls on a single charge. It meets the DIN EN 14043 standard for the 23/12 ladder class. The first production unit will be delivered to the Institute of the Fire Service in North Rhine-Westphalia (IdF NRW).
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Alongside the truck, FIREIQ Technologies demonstrated a cloud-based system that replaces the manual, periodic inspection of portable fire extinguishers with round-the-clock digital monitoring. Sensors track each extinguisher’s function and readiness 365 days a year, feeding data to a central cloud hub that produces continuous documentation and digital certification. The company says the hardware is designed for a ten-year service life. Pre-orders are open now, with a broad market launch scheduled for early 2027. Businesses will then be able to check the status of their fire-safety equipment remotely at any time.
A separate development targets the growing challenge of battery fires. The volunteer fire brigade in Maschen has become the first German force to put a FireGun into service. This Danish-built tool features a drilling tip that punches through housings or panels to reach fires in hard-to-access spaces — especially accumulators in electric vehicles and pockets inside ceiling voids where conventional extinguishing agents struggle to penetrate.
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