Fire equipment goes by many names throughout the world, the most common being fire engine, appliance or apparatus.
The fire engine may have several methods of pumping water onto fires, the most common method being to pass water through hoses from an array of valves. It may also have a fixed pumping ‘cannon’ (alternatively called a fire monitor, ‘deck gun’, or deluge), which can direct the water to where it is pointed by the operator. The horizontal and vertical range of the monitor arrangement is usually limited and appropriate only for specific tasks, such as airport fires. Monitors can also been used as water cannons for crowd control.
A fire engine may have an onboard water reservoir, allowing it to fight a fire immediately upon arrival, or it may be completely reliant on external sources, such as fire hydrants, water tenders, rivers or reservoirs from which it draws water by means of draft water suction.
A recent development is the use of an impulse fire-extinguishing system (IFEX), in which the water is highly pressurized into a vaporous mist, creating a cooling effect that is more efficient than water alone.
A modern fire engine is usually a multipurpose vehicle carrying professional firefighters and equipment for a wide range of firefighting and rescue tasks. Therefore, most fire engines carry equipment such as ladders, pike poles, axes and cutting equipment