Firefighters France

The Santa Monica Fire Department were host to two Parisian firefighters, who compared trans-Atlantic differences in firefighting techniques. Parisian streets are narrower and curve more than those here, said Willy Preto, 37, whose Parisian rank is comparable to battalion chief. Therefore, Parisian firetrucks are substantially smaller than their American counterparts, he said. Each truck, however, holds about half a dozen firefighters--compared with the average of four in the United States.

The Santa Monica Fire Department were host to two Parisian firefighters, who compared trans-Atlantic differences in firefighting techniques. Parisian streets are narrower and curve more than those here, said Willy Preto, 37, whose Parisian rank is comparable to battalion chief. Therefore, Parisian firetrucks are substantially smaller than their American counterparts, he said. Each truck, however, holds about half a dozen firefighters--compared with the average of four in the United States.

Firefighters from France and Britain battled a fire aboard a truck-shuttle train deep inside the Channel Tunnel in which 34 people were reported injured, two of them seriously. The blaze, the first major incident since the undersea rail link opened between Britain and France two years ago, started in a cargo truck carrying polystyrene en route from Britain to France. A civic official in the French port of Calais said the two most seriously injured people were taken to a hospital in Lille.