People out and about downtown Santa Barbara on Tuesday morning may have gotten a chance to see city firefighters working with a ladder truck outside of The Granada Theatre.
It wasn’t an actual fire that brought the crews and the engine out to the eight-story building at 1214 State St. at 9 a.m. Tuesday, but a training exercise that gave four firefighters the chance to practice with the department’s truck, which has a ladder that extends to 90 feet in height.
Capt. Gilbert Cash, who is captain on the truck that was used during the training, told Noozhawk that the firefighters are always training and that the department has the ladder truck because of The Granada, which was built in 1924 and is the tallest building in Santa Barbara.
The same firefighters also practiced ladder response on several residential multistory apartment buildings near Santa Barbara City College on Tuesday morning, Cash said.
“We do it all the time,” he said, adding that the training is ongoing as the department gets new firefighting personnel.
Firefighters also periodically conduct training for urban search and rescue and other responses.
— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at lcooper@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
