No source necessarily. Just anecdotal discussions I’ve had.

Regardless of the building materials issue, our trucks are more versatile than theirs are. This is probably because they have been restricted (by their narrow roads) to smaller trucks that therefore have less capabilities. If they had room for our trucks, I’m sure they’d be using them.

Other than the safety issue you mention, there is no reason for us to go backwards and start using less capable, smaller trucks.

And in terms of that “methodology,” I don’t think European departments are more focused on rescues, just that they can only use their ladder trucks for rescue and not for fighting fire. They are restricted to using the trucks only for rescue—it’s not a choice.

As for the safety issue on the streets, there are plenty of options to make them safer other than making them smaller. The city can add speed bumps; they can use roundabouts; they can add speed cameras. Reducing the size of fire trucks is not the only option.