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

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

, truck

Truck

A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, with the smallest being mechanically similar to an automobile...

, or SUV

Sport utility vehicle

A sport utility vehicle is a generic marketing term for a vehicle similar to a station wagon, but built on a light-truck chassis. It is usually equipped with four-wheel drive for on- or off-road ability, and with some pretension or ability to be used as an off-road vehicle. Not all four-wheel...

 that is used by a fire chief

Fire chief

Fire Chief is a top executive rank or commanding officer in a fire department, either elected or appointed...

 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

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 fire chiefs' cars tend to be very similar to police car

Police car

A police car is a ground vehicle used by police, to assist with their duties in patrolling and responding to incidents. Typical uses of a police car include transportation for officers to reach the scene of an incident quickly, to transport criminal suspects, or to patrol an area, while providing a...

s 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 marshal

Fire Marshal

A fire marshal, in the United States and Canada, is often a member of a fire department but may be part of a building department or a separate department altogether. Fire marshals' duties vary but usually include fire code enforcement and/or investigating fires for origin and cause...

s 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

Battalion

A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...

 chiefs, public information officers, building inspectors, first responders, safety educators, chaplain

Chaplain

Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...

s, and fire police

Fire Police

Fire Police are Volunteer Fire Brigade/Company members who have sworn police powers. They receive special police training and are responsible for traffic control, crowd control, fire and incident scene security, apparatus security, and station security during calls for service.They also assist...

.

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.