Santa Maria has a huge new tool in its arsenal for battling structure fires and responding to other emergency calls in the city.
The Santa Maria Fire Department’s new ladder truck, with most of its $1.5 million price tag covered by a federal grant, stands out with its front and rear cabs for steering.
“We’re really really excited to have it,” fire Capt. Chris Rehs said.
The 62-foot-long vehicle with a 107-foot-long ladder ultimately will replace the department’s tired 1999-era aerial ladder truck, which is prone to mechanical problems.
Fire Chief Leonard Champion said the new truck reduces the set-up time required for extending the ladder at the scene of an incident.
“That’s a significant time saving when you’re either trying to pull off a rescue or trying to set up an aerial master stream,” Champion said. “So that’s a big, big perk.”
The new truck painted in the agency’s chartreuse color scheme also provides better accessibility, he said, noting that an earlier demonstration showing the vehicle driving in a relatively tight circle without troubles.
“Between the two (steering) positions, they could coordinate getting into tight access areas,” Champion said. “And we’re reaping the benefits from new technology, new safety features, lighter, stronger systems and design so it brings up to today’s technology.”
It will get quite a workout. Last year, Santa Maria’s firefighters responded to 10,200 calls, and the now-named Truck 1 is expected to handle more than 3,500 once it’s completely in service.
The debut for aerial ladder truck marked the complettion of an acquisition process that began more than two years ago with the city applying for a grant and designing the vehicle.
Since the truck arrived in early July, crews have been seen extending the ladder near an empy field between Bradley Road and College Drive, and driving the vehicle on a course set up at the Santa Maria Public Airport for training purposes.
The vehicle will go into service over a gradual period of time as other members of the Fire Department become trained on setting up and driving the equipment. Otherwise, the old ladder truck remains available for responding to incidents.
“Our focus right now is getting everybody trained to the level where anyone can operate in the back or the front,” Champion said.
Santa Maria joins the Santa Barbara City, Santa Barbara County and San Luis Obispo City fire departments in having the aerial ladder trucks requiring a tiller man.
The ladder can shoot up to 1,500 gallons per minute and the truck carries 300 gallons in its on-board tank, according to Engineer Chris Furtado who rattles off statistics about the new vehicle like a proud dad..
It has a jackknife capability of 81 degrees, or how sharp the new truck can turn, Rehs added.
“We can take our truck down some areas that our current truck won’t turn down,” Rehs added, citing tight alleys, apartment complexes and streets with vehicles parked on both sides can be tricky for traditional trucks.
Armed with information from the department’s truck committee, Rehs and Furtado made three trips to the Wisconsin manufacturing plant, Pierce Manufacturing Inc., to help design and inspect the vehicle.
“It’s pretty awesome,” Furtado said. “This kind of truck essentially is the face of the Fire Department.”
Vehicles equipped with steering in the front and rear have been used since the 1900s among the firefighting forces, he noted.
“It’s more prevalent now because of the maneuverability and how dense cities are getting. That’s why all the department are going to this,” Furtado added.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
