Fire Apparatus Photography

Fire Apparatus Photography is a provider of very high quality photographs of fire service vehicles. The database includes over 17,000 separate listings of vehicles photographed by Chuck Madderom of Bakersfield, California and Shaun Ryan of Sparks, Nevada. The vehicle listings include fire apparatus photography from throughout the United States as well as from Africa, Asia, Europe, South America and the Caribbean. The listings include federal, state, county, municipal and private fire department apparatus. There is a wide variety of apparatus from modern units to historic vehicles. Of particular interest are photographs from the FDNY and LA County groups. The inventory of photographs is being augmented on a regular basis from both past and current photographic efforts by Chuck Madderom and Shaun Ryan.

RECENT UPDATES: Since his move to Bakersfield Chuck has added many recent photos to the our collection. He has done a lot of work in Tulare and Kern County with their Blue and White rigs and photographed nearly all the local equipment. All of these new additions have been cataloged and added to the consolidated database.

The databases reflect over 650 photographs taken during 2011 as well as additions made from past years' photography. For example, the LA County database has been increased to 807 records; Fresno County to 203 records; Kern County to 309 records; Kings County to 58 records; and Tulare County to 127 listings. We have added new listings from other California areas as well as North Carolina and Austria.

Our Photography
The vehicles included in this website were individually photographed. We make every effort to pose each vehicle in full sunlight conditions and take particular care to minimize background distractions. In our database we provide technical information on each vehicle. Although we have done our best to provide information that is correct, the accuracy is not guaranteed and we welcome any corrections or additional information that you may provide.

The Database
The website is configured for ease in searching. The listings are organized into a number of fields including: state, county, department, year of construction, chassis builder, chassis model, builder, builder’s serial, capacities, type, unit designation, date of photography and a remarks section. The last section provides additional information on individual vehicles. Our Excel spreadsheets can be downloaded to your computer and sorted to simplify your search. For visitors who do not have Excel, we have provided the information in another format which can be viewed on your computer.

Custom and Standard Enlargements
We provide color enlargements of any of the listed vehicles. The basic enlargement is a 4 x 6 inch print priced at $1.50 plus postage. We can also provide printed enlargements in larger, custom sizes. Any enlargements which are not satisfactory can be returned for a full refund.

Original Transparencies
Color 35mm film transparencies are also available for some of the vehicles listed in the website. These slides were taken on Kodachrome, Ektachrome and Fujichrome. These are not duplicate slides, but original 35mm transparencies and are available for $1.25 per slide.

Custom Services
We provide other services to our customers. These include scanning your 35mm slides, other film sizes and photographs and save them as digital images using a high-resolution scanner. We can also enhance your images through use of a software package, making such changes as color correction or improving contrast, and saving them in a variety of formats on CD or DVD discs. Please contact us for details.

Contact Us
Correspondence should be directed to: Shaun Ryan, 1660 Vicenza Drive, Sparks, Nevada 89434-2288. Email us at: Penethol@AOL.com.