New ladder truck perfect fit for Alcoa Fire Department

By Jessica Stith
of The Daily Times Staff

A little elbow grease, paint, wax and a few cans of chrome polish turned another department's unused surplus into a piece of treasure for the Alcoa Fire Department.

In need of a new ladder truck and pumper truck, Alcoa Fire Chief Roger Robinson said the department began looking for options to make the very expensive ladder truck affordable. This led the Alcoa department, and Alcoa City Commission, to a deal they couldn't refuse on a piece of unused apparatus at the Knoxville Fire Department (KFD).

Robinson said the department purchased the ladder truck, which has a vertical height of 135 feet while at full extension, and said the truck is a perfect fit for Alcoa Fire Department's needs.

He said they began thinking about purchasing a new ladder truck in 2005 when the department was told by Insurance Services Office (ISO) that they needed an additional aerial truck. He said the additional truck was needed because there are more than five three-story buildings in two of their zones.

ISO analyzes data using a Fire Suppression Rating Schedule and assigns a Public Protection Classification from 1 to 10 to the department. Class 1 represents "exemplary public protection," and Class 10 indicates that the area's fire-suppression program "doesn't meet ISO's minimum criteria," according to ISO's Web site.

Alcoa Fire Department had a Class 3 rating, a low rating, which helps lower fire insurance premiums for residential and commercial properties, Robinson said.

"If we did not purchase an additional ladder truck by the next inspection, we could have gone to a Class 4 or Class 5," Robinson said. "And we wanted to stay at a Class 3."

The truck, which had been sitting in KFD's parking lot for a couple of years, was not practical for their department. KFD needed ladder trucks to run on calls daily and this truck was in need of several repairs.

The ladder truck, now known as "Tower-1 (T-1)," met Alcoa Fire Department's needs and the two departments began discussing the sale.

Alcoa Fire Capt. Tom Daffron said the most appealing part of T-1 was the "jib boom" on the tower ladder, which allows it to bend and stretch horizontally over buildings. Alcoa Fire Capt. Tom Clark said that is especially helpful to the department when fighting fires at ALCOA's aluminum plants.

Robinson said fighting fires at any large building can be difficult and dangerous. He said older buildings sometimes have weak roofs or the roofs can become weak during a fire.

"The big thing is safety," Robinson said. "I'd much rather have the guys in a bucket over the roof instead of standing on the roof."

Robinson added that the jib boom also assists in rescue situations and that the ladder tower can reach 15 feet below grade.

T-1, which was made in 1997, was a little rusty when they found it at KFD, but all Alcoa's firefighters could see was a shiny new fire truck ready to be transformed.

Unable to afford a new version of the truck, which can cost $1 million or more, the Alcoa Fire Department worked out a deal to purchase the truck from KFD for $240,000. They also needed a new pumper truck, which they try to replace every 20 years. The pumper truck cost $414,000 and both trucks were purchased through a bond, Robinson said.

The 2008 pumper truck has an HP Cummins engine and is capable of pumping 15,000 gallons of water per minute. It is replacing Engine 3, a 1987 model, and the older engine will remain a reserve truck

The T-1 ladder truck was manufactured by Emergency One Cyclone and has three self contained breathing apparatuses, a positive pressure fan, two 16-foot roof ladders, a 26-foot two-section extension ladder and a 35-foot two-section extension ladder.

T-1 has a rescue platform that can shoot water in a straight stream or fog. Two air couplings supply breathing air to the platform, which has a capacity of 1,000 pounds, or 750 pounds when water is flowing.

When they brought their ladder truck home, Alcoa firefighters began mending and polishing the truck. They put $5,000 to $10,000 in new parts on the truck and polished and painted it.

"The firefighters did all the repairs," Robinson said.

He said they used 20 gallons of degreaser, 12 cans of chrome polish and six cans of wax on the truck.

"We've taken something that another department was surplusing and made it into a really good piece of apparatus for the city," Robinson said.

The ladder truck has passed all safety standards and firefighters inspect the truck on a daily basis, including 18 sensors that must be checked on the jib boom.

Robinson said the firefighters are constantly training on the new equipment. He said they practice operating T-1 and are training on driving the oversized truck.

"The guys are training every week," he said.

The truck has already been used during a fire recently at the ALCOA North Plant, Robinson said.

"We used it to get equipment on the roof and had guys working out of the bucket," he said.

He said the truck is a "great asset for all of Blount County" and will be used on all types of large fires and rescue missions. It will run on all fires in buildings that are three stories or taller and on rescue missions as needed.

"It's going to help the city and all of Blount County," Robinson said.