New Ladder Truck for Pelham Manor Fire Department Now in Use

Village Saves $500,000 By Having Boom Assembly Refurbished for New Truck

By Alex Wolff

The new and the old have arrived at the Pelham Manor Fire House. The new being a sparkling 2009 single axle truck and the old being the boom assembly that sits on top.

The boom assembly came directly from the department’s old 1973 truck— but has been upgraded with state of the art equipment.

“They don’t make what we have,” said Chief Joseph Ruggiero, who explained that Seagrave was the only company out of several that believed they could fit the tower ladder to a single axle and upgrade the boom to today’s standards. Most tower ladders are put on dual axle trucks.

The total cost was $683,212 and Pelham Manor saved anywhere between $500,000-$600,000 by using the old boom assembly. Completely new tower ladder trucks cost $1 million or more.

Still, the boom assembly was completely disassembled, magnifluxed—a process which checks for cracks and imperfections in the steel—inspected by Seagrave, the truck manufacturing company, and then further inspected by a third party to ensure that it fully meets all safety guidelines recommended by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).

“We’ve known for several years that our tower ladder was reaching the end of its useful life cycle, and we have taken steps over the past four or five years to reserve funds for the purpose of purchasing a new tower ladder. As a result of this planning, no bonding or loans were required to purchase this new vehicle,” said Chief Ruggiero.

The truck was driven from Clintonville, WI to New York—about 1,000 miles—over the course of two days by a Seagrave employee—its first major test. “This way they break in the truck before we even get it,” Chief Ruggiero said, “so if there were any problems along the way, which there weren’t, they could be addressed.”

Complete with an upgraded basket, the tower ladder has an attainable height of 81 feet and is redesigned to have more storage and better control capability. The basket can be operated not only from the truck, but also from the basket, providing optimal utilization.

The basket operates with more control than the old truck although Chief Ruggiero said that the function controls are operated in a similar manner to the old truck. Representatives from Seagrave will be coming to Pelham Manor to give a four day intensive training program for the firefighters in the very near future.

“The old truck required ‘feel’ to operate the ladder, and some guys were better at it than others. That’s not the case with this one. It’s electronically operated, which takes some of the human touch out of it,” said Chief Ruggiero.

The basket can accommodate up to 1,000 pounds, which is enough to hold three firefighters and at least one additional person—like someone being rescued. Additionally, the ladder has a lifting weight of 4,000 pounds, meaning that in the event of an overturned truck or tanker, the new fire truck could lift the disabled vehicle so long as it was under that weight allotment.

Advantages to having the tower ladder include the ability to work from the basket and the ability to safely and easily reach different locations during a rescue or fire operation, but there are also advantages to a regular ladder, which is used by the Pelham Village Fire Department, including greater height capabilities and better maneuverability.

“It’s most positively advantageous to have both types of ladders. It’s important for both villages. It wouldn’t have made sense for us to get what they have or for them to get what we have,” said the Chief.

This is part of the December 4, 2009 online edition of The Pelham Weekly.

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