The London Fire Brigade operate a number of different appliance types. On this website, you will usually find appliances identified by their abbreviation, for example DPL. You can check in this article what these abbreviations mean, and more information about the vehicles. Some of this information is similar to vehicles used by other brigades, although there are also many differences.

The DPL is the most common type of appliance in London. These are the standard pumps used for attending all incidents, and are known elsewhere as pumps or water tenders. A large water tank is fitted to the vehicles for firefighting, along with numerous hoses, rescue gear and other specialised equipment. All stations in London have at least one DPL with many having two. There are two types of DPL, a Pump Ladder and a Pump. A pump ladder carries a 13.5m ladder, whilst pumps have a 9m ladder. Stations with only one DPL will have a Pump Ladder carrying both a 13.5m and 9m ladder.
An order of 109 new Mercedes-Benz Ategos with Plastisol bodywork is currently being delivered to the brigade, which will eventually replace all of the older Volvo / Saxon appliances.

Vehicles used:
 ~ Volvo FL6.14 with Saxon Sanbec bodywork
 ~ Mercedes-Benz Atego with TVAC bodywork
~ Mercedes-Benz Atego with Papworth bodywork

New Vehicles:
~ 109 x Mercedes-Benz Atego / Plastistol (assembled by either TVAC or Papworth), currently in delivery

Fire Rescues are large specialist fire engines used for performing various types of rescue, from dealing with road traffic accidents to hazardous materials and chemicals spillages, line rescue, water rescue and more. They played a large part in the operations at the London bombings in July 2005. Since then the desicion was taken to increase the number of FRUs from 10 to 16, with three of the new FRUs now on the run.

Vehicles ued:
 ~ Mercedes-Benz Atego with TVAC bodywork
~ Mercedes-Benz Atego with Papworth bodywork

New Vehicles:
~ 7 x Mercedes-Benz Atego / Papworth ordered, at least one delivered so far.

HDCs are lorries adapted for carrying 'pods'. These are large containers which contain equipment. Pods are used for specialised incidents. The use of a pod system means you can have a single HDC, with a variety of pods for different incidents that can be loaded onto it. This means that there is no need for lots of specialised vehicles.
Pods used by the brigade include hose layers, breathing apparatus support units, damage control units and bulk foam units.

Vehicles ued:
 ~ Volvo FL6.14 with various bodywork

HPs (Hydraulic Platforms) are a type of aerial appliance used by the LFB. They are similar to ALPs, but do not have a full ladder, and are stored differently when out of use on the vehicle. Like ALPs and TLs, HPs can be used to rescue people, or for firefighting from a height.
All of the HPs are on Volvo FL6.18 chassis, with Simon SS220 booms. The booms were taken off older Dennis appliances from the 1980s, refurbished, and mounted on the new chassis.
There are currently only two HPs, both 1998 models, that are on the run. However, a fleet of older HPs are used as reserves. These are used to replace other aerial appliances that are off the run for some reason. All of the HPs are due to be replaced with an order of eight new Mercedes ALPs due later this year.

Vehicles ued:
 ~ Volvo FL6.18 with Simon SS220 booms

There is only one L4P in the London Fire Brigade, which is based at E42 Biggin Hill fire station during the winter months, to provide off-road fire cover for when the station's Volvo pump ladder cannot access an incident.
The L4P carries basic firefighting equipment, such as fire beaters, hoses and extinguishers. When not in use, it is stored at the brigade's workshops in Ruislip.

Vehicles ued:
 ~ Vauxhall Brava / Truckman

There are nine LRLs in the London Fire Brigade, which are Mercedes-Benz Atego box lorries. LRL stands for London Resilliance Lorry, which was the older designation given to the vehicles, which were previously used as temporary IRUs and USAR vehicles before New Dimension equipment arrived. They are now in use as Operational Support Units (OSUs), but still carry LRL fleet numbers.
There are six OSUs based in London, at Ealing, Sutton, Wandsworth, Finchley, Lee Green and Stratford. The vehicles are used for responding to incidents with specialised equipment, and also for general deliveries in the brigade. The three other LRLs are used as reserves and for general purpose usage in the brigade.

OSVs (Operational Support Vehicles) are another new type for the LFB. They are MAN LEs with box bodies. They are used for similar duties as the GPVs, but are more often used on emergency equipment carrying,  rather than routine ferrying of goods.

Vehicles ued:
 ~ Mercedes-Benz Atego with BoAlloy or Eire Trucks box body

The Scientific Support Unit is an interesting new type of vehicle introduced to the London Fire Brigade in 2005. There are two vehicles, based at Hammersmith fire station in west London, and Poplar in the east. They carry equipment used for monitoring chemicals and can act as a mobile laboratory. The appliances attend fires of eight pumps or more, suspected or confirmed chemical incidents and hazmat spillages.

Vehicles ued:
 ~ Mercedes-Benz Atego / Papworth

TLs (Turntable Ladders) are the final type of aerial applainces used by the LFB. The TLs use metal ladders (around 30m long), which can be extended and used for accessing high places, rescuing people or fighting fires from a height.
There are two types of TL run by the brigade. There are two Dodge G16Cs with Magirus ladders in South London, at Old Kent Road and Clapham fire stations, and a single Dennis F127 with Camiva ladders at Paddington fire station in Central London. A second Dennis was based at Soho, but this was written off in an RTA and so Soho now run an HP.

Vehicles ued:
 ~ Dodge G16C with Magirus ladders
~ Dennis F127 with Camiva ladders

New Vehicles:
~ 4 x Mercedes-Benz Econic / Magirus TLs on order for delivery in summer 07.