Like one of those T-shirts showing the evolution of man, Flickr’s Galaktek has been charting the evolution of the fire truck, from its beginnings as a motorised vehicle before the Great War until the mid-’60s (with more to come we hope), and our ingenious special effects department* has collated Galaktek’s three builds chronologically above.

From top to bottom; 1912 Mercedes-Benz Feuerwehr-Motorspritze, 1950s Mercedes-Benz L6600, and 1960s Seagrave open-cab tiller.

There’s lots more to see of each historic fire truck at Galaktek’s photostream – click the link above to dial 911 through time.

*Hah!