The long-awaited ladder fire truck has arrived in Saint Andrews.
The municipal council in Saint Andrews viewed the truck, which extends about 100 feet, as a significant priority.
Crews, mainly volunteers, have spent three days training on the truck, which cost the municipality around $1.5 million in total.
“It means we can reach very tall buildings in town,” said Fire Chief Kevin Theriault. “More and more buildings are being built, the higher they’re going and it’s getting harder to reach.”
Fire Chief Kevin Theriault said the crew is excited to have the truck as part of its fleet. Image: Nathalie Sturgeon, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Saint Andrews recently saw a two-storey, 42-unit apartment building open on Mowat Drive, with the Argyll Residence slated to be built as a three-storey building. The council is also discussing a four-story building for the NBCC Saint Andrews campus.
Mayor Brad Henderson previously said firefighters had expressed feeling unsafe when piling ladders to reach the roofs of many of the community’s homes.
Theriault said this makes it much safer.
“It’s much safer to work off this ladder truck than it is off a ground ladder,” he said.
The fire truck has several compartments for storage and equipment, like oxygen tanks. It can hold six firefighters inside the cab.
It is equipment with the Waze system, which automatically alerts drivers of emergency vehicles that are responding to calls on roadways.
Theriault and his firefighters have been waiting approximately three years to get this truck, but that is very standard, he explained, as trucks are made to order.
“It bolsters our ability to do more as firefighters,” he said.
The Saint Andrews Fire Department responds to about 140 calls per year, with about a dozen to 20 of those being working fires. Recently, a prominent Saint Andrews business caught fire, but with the help of mutual aid, The Herring Fire was knocked down quickly.
Crews are excited about the addition of the new truck.
“There (is a) feeling of greatness here. That we get to use it and train on it,” he said.
Before the arrival of this truck, the near ladder truck was in St. Stephen about half an hour away.
“It’s good to have a couple of these bigger trucks,” he said. “Everything is getting bigger and taller.”
— with files from Vicki Hogarth.
