Red (voiced by
Jesse Moss) is a red fire engine and the main character in the show who never gives up. He loves nature and the outdoors but most of all, he loves making new friends. Sometimes, he is the leader of the firetruck team. The episode "New Truck on the Block" reveals his first day in Green Meadows. His catchphrase is "The sirens say help's on the way!"
Petrol (voiced by
Michael Adamthwaite) is an orange fire engine from
Scotland who is sometimes afraid but manages to find the courage inside himself. According to his song "I'm Petrol the Fire Truck", he came before Crabby and Red did.
Crabby (voiced by
Richard Cox) is a grumpy yellow fire engine who sometimes complains about his job and who likes the "great indoors" better than the outdoors but sometimes enjoys the outdoors.
The Chief (voiced by Ron Halder) is the dark blue fire engine who is the leader of the three junior firetrucks (Red, Petrol, and Crabby). He tells them exactly what to do at any given time. He sometimes puts Red in charge of the team and sometimes leads the team whenever an emergency occurs.
Mayor Precious Primly (voiced by Ellen Kennedy) is the mayor who runs Green Meadows and works for The Chief.
Stinky Bins (voiced by
David "Squatch" Ward) is the green
garbage truck of Green Meadows. He is used to his own stench but sometimes takes a bath, resulting in pollution that has to be cleaned up by the firetrucks. He also likes telling jokes, as seen in "Stinky Bubbles".
Snooty-Tootie (voiced by Colin Murdock) is a black
limo who carries the Mayor around Green Meadows. He once taught the junior firetrucks manners.
Spinner (voiced by David A. Kaye) is an orange
helicopter who often doesn't take his job seriously.
Scoop is a white
seaplane who carries water which she can use to douse fires.
Bubba (voiced by Blu Mankuma) is a yellow
bulldozer who works outside the firehouse.
Wiser (voiced by
French Tickner) is a dark red
mobile crane who can lift people from fires. He first appeared in "Older But Wiser". He also narrates all the stories.
Tug (voiced by
Michael Dobson) is a red and yellow fireboat who is ready to rescue.
Bulky (voiced by
Terry Klassen) is a blue
blimp who had been decorated for Halloween. He appeared in the episodes "Spinner Spins a Tale" and "Hoppin' Hoses".
Zoe is a red
tow truck who likes helping other cars.
Lorrie is a light blue
Land Rover who lives in the beach and is Petrol's old friend. She first appeared in "The Lorrie Story".
Newsie is a blue news truck who likes filming. He first appeared in "Trucks on TV".
Squirt is the firehouse Dalmatian.
Production and background
Firehouse Tales was originally produced by Firehouse Productions, LLC as a 22-minute pilot, created and developed by animation producer Sidney J. Bailey and animation director Clark James. It was sold to
Warner Bros. Television in 2004, which following their process, the program was redeveloped as a CG program composited over 2D backgrounds – 26 half hours were subsequently produced by
Warner Bros. Animation and aired on
Cartoon Network's
Tickle-U worldwide.
The original pilot episodes, which never aired publicly, was created as practical miniature sets with computer generated facial expressions added in post production. The original characters cast were: "Pete", "Lakie", "Tip", "Commander", and "Chief McSpeed", while Wiser and Squirt have different designs.
Firehouse Tales premiered on
Cartoon Network's preschool television programming block Tickle-U in the United States on August 22, 2005. It also aired on
Cartoonito in the UK from 2006. It has also aired on
Star Channel's Starland (formerly Star Toons) block in Greece,
RTL Klub in Hungary,
RTP2 in Portugal, and more channels in other foreign countries.
References
^Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 206.
ISBN978-1538103739.