Book excerpt: The Feuerwehr (German: fire defence) is a number of German fire departments. The responsible bodies for operating and equipping fire departments are the German communities ("Gemeinden") and cities ("Städte"). By law, they are required to operate fire-fighting forces. In cities, this is usually performed by the Fire Prevention Bureau, one of the higher-ranking authorities. There are three kinds of firefighters in Germany: the predominant number of Germany's 1,383,730 firefighters are members of voluntary fire brigades (Freiwillige Feuerwehr), a lesser number are working in professional fire brigades and the smallest are the drafted members of a Compulsory Fire Service (Pflichtfeuerwehr), established just in a few places nationwide. Here we look at some of their flashy vehicles. We hope you will enjoy our selection of photos.