A fire chief's vehicle, also called a "chief unit" or a "fire chief's car", "Fly Car", "Fly Vehicle", a "fire car", or sometimes even called a "Buggy" (a throw back to horse drawn days), is a car, truck, or SUV that is used by a fire chief at fire scenes. Its specialized markings clearly indicate the Chief's rank, often making it a focal point at a large emergency scene.
In the United States fire chiefs' cars tend to be very similar to police cars and are equipped with the same variants: (lightbars or light beacons, sirens, long-range and short-range radio antennas, bumper guards, communications systems, specialized engines, special equipment, etc.). Fire marshals also use very similar vehicles.
In most other countries, fire chiefs are rarely assigned their own marked vehicles, but instead use unmarked vehicles.
Other sedans and small emergency vehicles belonging to a fire service are used by battalion chiefs, public information officers, building inspectors, first responders, safety educators, chaplains, and fire police.
Major fire departments in the United States find it efficient to equip Chief officers who respond to emergency incidents in Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV). The SUV, when equipped with a command module at the rear of the vehicle provides a useful command unit for communicating with and tracking incident resources.
In the United Kingdom, the Station Managers car (Fire Chief) is usually unmarked and personally owned by the Manager. The car will be fitted out with the necessary equipment such as blue lights and sirens.