Hey mike, I read in the November - December 2006 issue of Fire Aperratus Journal That the LAFD was expermenting with 2006 Ford F450 four-wheel-drive extended cab with body work with Master Body Works desinged to fit the footprint a suburban, as a replacement for the suburbans for the Battalion Cheifs and the Ems car for Ems Captains. I was wondering what happened to them, Since I never heard anything else and there not in the mod, I assume they were rejected. I belive the test version for the BC was assinged to Battalion 5. I just looked at your site and found the ems version of the test rig so I assume you know about them. Also, how is the county liking there new LDV Mobile Comand Unit.
LACoFD Mobile Command Post
any reason that they went with a smaller 16 foot chassis rather than a larger chassis?
The experimental truck that went to B5 and EMS14 was not purchased fleet wide. There were a lot of complaints about the EMS version, and the last decision I heard was that within the next few years, when the Chiefs get new SUV's, the EMS captains will probably get their old ones as hand me downs depending on their serviceability. The B5 vehicle was basically due to the special area of the Hollywood Hills interface zone and I've heard mixed reviews of its usefulness there.
As far as the County unit goes, I'll let you know in a month. So far I've yet to come across it in the field, and never even saw it in the shops so I can't even tell you if it's been delivered yet. With May being fire service month, I'm sure if it's been delivered, it'll be hauled out to one of the dog and pony shows, but anything is better then the silver airstream trailer we've been using. That thing is just sad. Judging by that site, I wonder if it will be used as a Mobile Command post, or some other function.

This is the LACoFD Infrared/Mapping unit used by the GIS section on large incidents. I wouldn't be surprised if the new unit gets turned into some other type of specialty vehicle as well.
Mike