Fire Truck Driving!

you're lucky. All our trucks (both of them! - very small dept - 3-5 calls a month including med) are automatics and no other brakes but the pedal. We have a 2006 Sterling 2500 Gal tanker, and My truck is a 1986 Pierre Thibault International Pumper - I'm an engineer. the running joke on my truck is that if the turbo ever went out on it, it'd be a stationary pump! It's a school bus chassis, with a cabover, and a midship 1500 GPM, but it always tests at around 1750. Unfortunately it's so underpowered it's not governed at 80 km/hr, but that's what it'll do down hill - it could use a retarder brake.

Safer is always better than sorrier, and ALWAYS assume when you are rolling hot (lights & sirens), that nobody on the road sees you, and that they are all idiots - it will keep you and your crew alive.