Taking over as your new fire chief has certainly been a challenging as well as rewarding experience. Needless to say I walked into this position in the middle of some very important community initiatives. During the warrant and deliberative process, I have been asked many questions concerning the purchase of the ladder truck. I would like to take this time to clarify a few misnomers as well as answer some commonly asked questions.

The first question I am frequently asked is, "Why does the ladder truck cost so much?"

Fire ladder trucks are not fleet manufactured like commercial Chevy, Ford or Dodge trucks. You can't walk onto the lot of your local fire truck dealer, kick the tires and take a test ride. Ladder trucks are custom built using many parts from many different manufacturers. The truck is essentially a mix of many manufactured parts. The engine may be manufactured by Detroit diesel, the body by TriMax, the aerial ladder by Ladder Towers Incorporated and so on. The many parts combined with the time and efforts to construct the truck contribute to the price tag. Fire truck manufacturers, when constructing or refurbishing a fire truck are also required to adhere to a very strict set of national safety standards. This also contributes to increased costs.

I am next asked, "Shouldn't the Town purchase a used, less expensive ladder truck?"

The trick is to find a ladder truck that is in excellent mechanical condition, has a majority of the features required to meet departmental/community needs and is offered at a reasonable price. The old adages, "You get what you pay for" and "Let the buyer beware" are ever present in the purchase of any fire apparatus. The answer is that the ladder truck presented in Article 4 is in fact a used demonstrator model. Certainly there are other used, less expensive ladder trucks, but the truck selected by the ladder truck committee is unique in that it is a demonstrator model and was never used by a fire department. What is the difference you ask? A ladder truck used by a fire department has experienced a considerable amount of wear and tear. Depending on use, ladder trucks usually have a life expectancy of twelve to twenty years. Towards the end of a ladder truck's life expectancy, a Fire Chief must recommend to the community to either purchase a new truck or to refurbish the old truck. If the truck is not worth refurbishing, then the Chief recommends purchasing a new or used truck. If the truck is refurbished, the department usually keeps the truck until it becomes a maintenance problem, typically 5 to 7 years and then sells it to an apparatus liquidator.

The ladder committee conducted extensive research and weighed all options before making their recommendation. Knowing that a brand new ladder truck would prove to be too expensive, and purchasing a used truck may result in inheriting someone else's problems, the committee made the recommendation to select a demo model. The demo model proved to be less expensive than a brand new ladder truck and had considerably less wear and tear than a used truck. Additionally the demo truck is in excellent mechanical condition and has the key operating features that the committee was seeking. The demo model has all 110-foot ladder, a fire pump and plenty of compartment space to carry specialized rescue equipment that cannot be carried on a pumper truck. Finding a used or refurbished ladder truck in the same condition with the necessary features is almost an impossible task. So to get back to the question, the answer is yes; there are less expensive ladder trucks. That is exactly what the ladder committee found and recommended. In my opinion, the members of the ladder committee did an excellent job in recommending an excellent quality apparatus that shall meet the present and future needs of our community.

Many people ask me, "Why do we need a ladder truck?

Given the broad spectrum of this question, my usual response is " Are you asking why the fire department needs the truck or are you asking why the community needs the truck? I will attempt to answer both those questions.

Why does the community need the ladder truck? Let me cite some recent fire calls to explain why the community needs the truck. Recently, the fire department responded to two separate chimney fires at residential homes. One chimney was on a two and one half story wood frame home that had a very steep roof. To make matters worse, the chimney extended eight feet above the peak of the roof. The second chimney was on a two-story wood frame home that was built on a rear lot making the house very difficult to access. Both houses had extremely slippery ice covered roofs. In both events, the ladder truck was used to get the firefighters safely to the chimneys to put the fires out. Both chimneys were plugged with creosote, which required firefighters to work from the top of the chimney to break through the obstructed flue pipe. Without the use of a ladder truck, the firefighters would have never gained access to the top of these chimneys. This leads me to why the aerial ladder is 110- feet long. The ladder committee researched many styles and lengths of ladders. The committee members physically tried shorter ladders and found that the shorter ladders did not have the "reach" needed to access roof tops, windows and chimneys. Yes, I agree that many of the buildings in our community are not 110-feet high, but you also have to realize that when using a ladder truck, it's the length of the ladder that allows you to reach your target. Think of using a 24- foot extension ladder at your home to gain access to your roof. Do you put the ladder straight up and down and then attempt to climb it? Putting it straight up and down will certainly give you the maximum length, but makes the ladder impossible to climb. Normally you would set the base of the ladder a few feet away from the house, placing the ladder on an angle. When you place the ladder on an angle you then have to extend it in order to reach the roof. This is called reach. A ladder truck will not be parked up against the side of a building to gain roof or window access. The truck is parked away from the building and the aerial is placed on an angle so it is easier to climb and work. The ladder needs sufficient length to be able to reach the target. The committee, in conducting their research, has found that the optimum ladder length for our community is 110- feet. A 110- foot ladder truck allows firefighters to safely and quickly reach and extinguish fires while preventing any additional damage, structurally or otherwise.

One of the least asked questions but one of importance is, "Why can't we just call another town to use their ladder truck? We did it before, why can't we do it again?

My answer is yes; we can call another town to use their ladder truck. My question to you is, "What is the minimum amount of risk that you are willing to accept? Littleton 's ladder truck is automatically dispatched to every first alarm call. Examples of a first alarm call are chimney fires, smoke in the building or fire alarm activation just to name a few.

When I speak of risk, I am asking how long are you willing to wait for a ladder truck to arrive at your doorstep. Unfortunately, Bethlehem 's ladder truck is not available because it is in need of repair. In speaking to Chief Andersen, he informed me that Bethlehem 's 1955 ladder truck cannot be used and there are no plans to get the truck repaired. That leaves Lisbon 's 1954 ladder truck as the closest ladder truck to Littleton . Bethlehem and Lisbon as well as the other surrounding communities have dedicated firefighters who would at a moments notice come to our aid when called. However, should the citizens of Littleton rely on Lisbon 's ladder truck to respond to all first alarm calls? When called, Lisbon firefighters will drive to the station, man the ladder truck and drive to our community. Of course that will take time and in my twenty-six years of fire fighting I have never seen a fire wait for the arrival of a ladder truck. On the other hand, are we to assume that the taxpayers of Lisbon will accept the burden of running their ladder truck to Littleton for each first alarm? There are fuel costs, manpower costs, wear and tear on the truck and liability insurance to consider as extra costs to Lisbon 's taxpayers. Additionally, if Lisbon 's ladder truck is not available the next ladder trucks are located in St. Johnsbury (about 20 miles away) or Lincoln (just less than 24 miles traveling distance). Again, what is the minimum amount of risk that you are willing to accept?

I do not have a crystal ball nor will I give you a false sense of security. Our community cannot fully rely upon another town's ladder to arrive on the scene in a timely manner. Please understand that we may be waiting an extended period of time for the ladder truck to arrive to our doorstep. I want to emphasize that Littleton firefighters will do everything that is humanly possible to reduce the amount of damage being caused by the fire, but I also want you to understand that without the required resources, tools, manpower, equipment and apparatus, firefighters may experience operational difficulties.

Don't we have a mutual aid agreement with the other towns?

The answer is yes, we do have mutual aid agreements with other towns. But you must understand the concepts of Mutual Aid versus Automatic Aid. Mutual Aid is used when a fire department is at a fire and has exhausted all of its resources to a point that they require aid from other towns. That aid comes in the form of equipment and manpower . Mutual aid is not having a neighboring town's truck respond to first alarm calls within our community. That type of aid is called, Automatic Aid. Automatic aid is when a neighboring town agrees to provide automatic response services to a community. Both town fire departments are dispatched simultaneously to the fire call. The neighboring town has accepted to respond automatically to the neighboring community. Now for the Issues: