With two ladder trucks breaking down and their third more than 20 years old and staff lacking training on it, Greater Sudbury firefighters are currently without access to a ladder truck.
They’ve been without a ladder truck for approximately one month already, and staff are still a month away from being well-enough trained on their third ladder truck to use it.
“There is a gap in our rescue program right now, and that’s concerning to us,” Deputy Chief Jesse Oshell told Sudbury.com.
“It certainly does present a challenge when we talk about rescue, so we want to make sure we do everything we can to get this ladder back into the community because that’s our best option.”
Sudbury.com received a tip that Greater Sudbury Fire Services were without a ladder truck, so we reached out to Oshell to explain the situation.
The city has three ladder trucks, he said.
Two are out of service for repair, including ladder truck No. 1, which was built in 2021, and ladder truck No. 2, which is their reserve apparatus, and was built approximately 20 years ago.
Ladder truck No. 3 still works, but is more than 20 years old and has been removed from service and was on the verge of being divested. As such, Oshell said that crews are no longer trained on the apparatus.
Training efforts are underway on truck No. 3, and crews will be able to use it in approximately one month, he said.
Ladder truck No. 1 came out of service approximately one month ago due to a “defect of a component from the manufacturer which finally let go while we were training on the ladder,” Oshell said.
The component was under warranty and sent back to the manufacturer in the United States, and Greater Sudbury Fire Services are waiting on the results of their efforts.
Given the state of Canada/U.S. relations, Oshell said they’ve been “struggling to expedite the repair” and are “anxiously awaiting an update.”
Ladder truck No. 2 is currently being repaired in southern Ontario, but there’s no estimated time of arrival.
“We’re hoping that within 30 days we’ll have that unit back to us, but we’re waiting on a time estimate,” Oshell said. “Everything has been expedited and prioritized.”
Ladder trucks, also called aerial apparatus, have ladders built into them to allow firefighters access to incidents at a high angle as well as rescue people from structures.
Trucks No. 1 and 2 have a reach of 100 feet, or approximately six to seven storeys, and No. 3 has a reach of 75 feet.
Trucks No. 1 and 2 have platforms at their ends, while No. 3 is “essentially just a ladder.”
“Its uses are less than what we have in our normal operation, but it is still a tool that we can use, which is why we’re trying to get it into service as quickly as possible,” Oshell said of ladder truck No. 3.
Greater Sudbury Fire Services staff have also been reaching out to other departments in Ontario to request reserve or spare apparatus, but Oshell said that this effort has been unsuccessful.
In addition to manufacturing delays, he said municipalities have been faced by rising costs which have pushed them to stretch the lifespans of their units.
“It’s important to note that ladder trucks are a very expensive resource, not every community has them and they’re very difficult to come by,” Oshell said.
Meanwhile, he said that the department has city council approval to purchase a new ladder truck to replace truck No. 2. They plan to move on procuring this replacement apparatus soon, but Oshell said it would take up to 36 months for the manufacturer to build and deliver it.
While without a ladder truck, Oshell said firefighters are doing what they can, but that there’s a gap in rescue capability in reaching up to seventh storeys from buildings’ exterior.
“Anything that would require an aerial ladder that our high-angle rescue crews could not use ropes or ground ladders to achieve would be a situation,” Oshell said.
“In the meantime, if we need, we are going to use our rope systems to rappel down if that’s something that’s safe to do so.”