HW Metro | 5 Alarm

Fire Trucks or Fire Engines have been around going back to the sixteenth century. It evolved from men moving a device that has a pressured tank to horse-drawn engines that have steamed powered pistons to spray water. Of course, the advancement of technology has changed the way how to put fire out with the development of these machines that are modified trucks. Specially-designed trucks that have firefighting apparatus that also transports personnel and carry an amount of water, which also carry special equipment for rescue and other emergency use. I’ve been fascinated by fire trucks at a young age and seeing one in person sparked my curiosity about these firefighting machines.

In fiction, Hot Wheels who produce die-cast cars have expanded into making other types of vehicles aside from licensed brands based on real-world cars. But also, they produced “fantasy” or generic vehicles that border on exaggeration and unique concepts by its designers.

A Fire Engine concept using a tank engine as its core vehicle built around a firefighting vehicle turbocharged to get the job done would be something of a fiction, but an idea designed by Kevin Cao back in 2008 wasn’t farfetched when it was introduced in the Hot Wheels mainline basic range in 2009 as part of the “New Models” introducing the 5 Alarm.

Modern Hot Wheels Icon

The 5 Alarm is a six-wheel Fire Truck whose core is a military tank built into a Fire Engine that has a moving ladder and carries firefighting equipment that looks like it can become a vehicle in the real world that has chrome and well-detailed aesthetics aching to a souped about vehicle that will not only take out a fire.

It is considered one of the iconic “Hot Wheels Original” vehicles from the 2000s that can park between the modern Deora II and the Twin Mill III. The 5 Alarm has been produced into a brick-built Fire Engine under the Mega Construx range of sets and even have a Monster Truck version that is paired up with the six-wheeled 5 Alarm original.

Not Your Dad’s Original Version

In 2019, after four years of absence from the mainline basic, the 5 Alarm returned with a new look that has been mixed from longtime Hot Wheels collectors who have this vehicle in their collections. Sometimes, retooling something familiar since being introduced in 2009 into what is called “cost-cutting” reduced the original into nothing more than a mere shell of itself.

I own two original 5 Alarm fire trucks from 2014 and 2015, at first, I had to admit not being a fan of the exaggerated aesthetics of the six-wheeled vehicle that its origin is based on the concept of having a military tank as its engine. I kind of regret selling the 2014 version when I was back in Adelaide as the 2015 version was already brought back in the Philippines when I went back in March 2017 before getting my things done to live and study there.

It Should be called 4 Alarm

The new version was introduced in 2019, and I didn’t notice the changes until I saw the pink version from 2022. The retooling of the 5 Alarm into what you see now is like looking at an entirely new fire truck. The ladder is shorter and has improved by adding a peg near the nozzle to peg onto the body of the truck, while the noticeable change to the casting is the missing extra pair of wheels. The other subtle changes are the interior part, where the center turbine and the firefighting gear are now one piece compared to the 2015 version.

There are more notable changes in this casting, which is the metal base that is now narrower since the interior part including the windows, the turbine, and the firefighting gear is more pronounced as the main part that is usually painted in chrome. The metal base is painted in matte black, but it looks like plastic as when you weigh the 2015 and the 2024 versions together the older one has more heft.

The extensive retooling also made changes to the front look of the truck with a slightly wide gap having a tiny grill now as compared to the original. The cost-cutting to continue in making the 5 Alarm was a downgrade from being a supercharged fire engine into nothing more than an emergency vehicle that lost its cool factor.

It’s been reduced to a fire truck wannabe, and it’s not the same as the original version that caught some eyeballs for its unique concept and design. An overall look on the post-retool version makes it underwhelming to appreciate now parked beside the last version of the original. I could have kept the 2014 version, and if I had it known Hot Wheels would make sudden changes to the casting.

They could have just retired the original 5 Alarm and introduced a new version instead of making changes to the original casting. It kind of ruined the legacy of what the 5 Alarm was despite having a Monster Truck version that looks menacing Fire Engine with four giant tires, and this new version was nothing like the one that came before. But newer Hot Wheels collectors won’t notice the changes until they do research and find out how the original was hailed as one of the best Hot Wheels Originals to come out in the 2000s and why it was called the 5 Alarm.

"5 Alarm" was released under the subline for HW Metro and was acquired at Shopwise Makati at a special discount. Hot Wheels is distributed in the Philippines by Richwell/Richprime.