Seeing large swaths of the American West enveloped in swirling torrents of flame reminds us that firefighters often need drive (and fly) amazing vehicles in their quest to keep us from burning up. What's the most badass fire-fighting vehicle?
For us, it's the Rosenbauer Panther 8x8. Built mainly for airport duty, the Austrian-built Panther is light (relatively), eight-wheel-drive, its rear-mounted MAN diesel V12 produces 2,581 lb-ft of torque and the whole business — including water cannon — can be operated by a single person if necessary. Sure it takes 25 seconds to get from 0-to-60, but for heavy fire equipment that's like Veyron spec.
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