Last January, after almost thirty years of service fighting fires in the Japanese prefecture of Fukui, a remarkably small fire truck made the journey to Baltimore. Named Yama—which ironically translates to “mountain” in Japanese—it measures roughly six feet tall and less than 60 inches wide.
Perhaps you’ve seen it cruising down the Avenue in Hampden, or spotted re-shared Instagram photos of the vintage vehicle posing against the backdrop of local landmarks. But how did Yama get here?
It all began when Roland Park attorney Brett Rogers was shopping for a new car last year.
“I was looking for a very specific Japanese sports car, and when I saw the fire truck I thought, ‘I just can’t pass this up,’” says Rogers, who discovered it through an online vehicle importer. “So, I asked my wife whether she thought it was a good idea. She rolled her eyes and said, ‘Sure. Go ahead.’”
When Yama pulled up to their home aboard a trailer, Rogers was surprised at just how compact the truck was up close. Though, as he soon discovered, Yama’s tiny frame makes sharing the road easier. “It gets through traffic very well.”
As for a typical outing, “I drive it in small doses,” Rogers says. “It isn’t my regular car. I take it out when the weather is appropriate— usually on a weekend.”
As expected, almost everywhere that Yama makes a stop—it has popped-up everywhere from the Washington Monument and Belvedere Hotel in Mt. Vernon to The Senator Theater in Govans and M&T Bank Stadium in South Baltimore—attention follows. Passersby on backroads and city streets (Rogers hasn’t driven it on the highway yet) are usually intrigued by the tiny truck.
“I think some people are puzzled,” he adds. “It’s a pretty common sight in Japan and neighboring countries, but to see it on a city street in the U.S., they’re nonplussed by it.”
For his part, Rogers says he’s gotten a lot of joy from exposing his eclectic truck to Baltimore, both on the town and via social media (he runs Yama’s Instagram account, @notgiaganticfiretruck, with the help of his two middle- and high school-aged daughters.) On occasion, he even takes it to school events and children’s birthday parties.
But, in order to keep up these appearances, Rogers has had to educate himself on the ins and outs of maintaining such a unique vehicle. He watches YouTube tutorials and changes Yama’s oil from his garage, mainly because he hasn’t yet “found a shop yet that’s enthusiastic about working on it.”
When searching for a rare replacement part last winter, Rogers even stumbled upon a new resource: a Facebook group for the “Japanese Firetruck Owners of America.”
“It’s such a crazy thing that I didn’t know existed,” he says. “There’s a very small group of us.”
In the future, Rogers hopes to continue to show off the truck to the community, while also using it as a way to further explore more pockets of the city.
“It’s pretty funny that this cheap, old, little truck—which I’m very fortunate is not falling apart—has attracted so much interest,” he says. “I just like to drive around, and when the opportunity presents itself to take a picture, I check it out. You never really know what you’re gonna find in Baltimore.”