Ladder Truck vs. Courthouse: A Look at Ladder 99

 The Albion Fire Department has had a ladder truck for a couple of years (and I took these photos last summer, so I'm way behind), so I thought I'd give you the lowdown on it. These photos were taken when the truck was called to the Noble County Courthouse, to help remove some debris from a gutter--and it made for great training.

(We did have a hook and ladder wagon when we first formed in 1887, but that was because hauling apparatus to the scene by hand meant you had to have your hose, pump, and ladders/tools divided up to make lighter loads.)

 We got a great deal on a used truck: A brand new apparatus of this type runs a million dollars or more. AFD Ladder 99 is a quint: In addition to the aerial ladder and associated equipment, it carries a fire pump, a water tank, and a supply of hose.

Some firefighters hate quints, which basically combine a fire engine with a ladder truck. As a result, they say, there's not enough room for the full amount of equipment one of those alone would usually carry. The advantage is that some of the most critical ladder company operations need to be done right away, and how that truck is positioned is critical--in other words, there are advantages to it being first on the scene.

But even if all the seats are filled, how do you accomplish both fire attack and ventilation/rescue operations at the same time? It's a question I'm addressing in a novel-in-progress, and the argument will continue.

 

 Why is it called Ladder 99 if we only have one?  Each fire department in Noble County has a different number. Back in the day it was planned to be in alphabetical order, with Albion being Base 10, but we didn't adapt it for many years and so the Kendallville Fire Department took that number. As a result Albion eventually took the last number, so our first out engine is Engine 91, the water tankers are 94 and 95, and so on. It was the same with individual members, which is why I was Fire 914 for many years.

 

 The aerial ladder is 105 feet, which means we can reach the main floors of the courthouse, and a stream of water from the tip of the ladder could easily reach the clock tower. Here's hoping that never becomes necessary. Fire department ladder trucks are often called on to help with such things as hanging town decorations and, oh, keeping the recently renovated courthouse from getting water damage.

 

I stopped being an active firefighter just before Ladder 99 came along, so I've only climbed up and down an aerial a few times. There's no easy way to do it. But when it's position isn't too steep, it's a little like climbing downhill on a steep bridge. Do they make steep bridges? I hope not.

 

 

Outriggers are set on heavy metal plates to stabilize the truck when the aerial is up. You don't want to overturn your truck. You really don't.

 

Ladders? Oh yeah, we got ladders. Sometimes, due to power lines, trees, setbacks, or other factors, you can't get the aerial where you want it, and that's where the ground ladders come in. A ladder company isn't just a truck: It's the truck, the equipment it carries, and the trained manpower onboard that work together to accomplish the job. If a truck shows up with empty compartments and no passengers, it's ... a truck.

Quints are becoming more common around the area. Remember that if you see them at a scene where the aerial ladder isn't raised, that doesn't mean the rest of the equipment isn't in use. 

 

 

You can find out all about that original hook and ladder, and the first century of the AFD's history, in Smoky Days and Sleepless Nights: a Century Or So With the Albion Fire Department.

 

 

You can find our books burning up the internet in various places:

 

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·        Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

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·        Audible:  https://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Mark+R.+Hunter&ref_pageloadid=4C1TS2KZGoOjloaJ&pf

 

 

Remember: Reading about fires is way more comfortable than experiencing them.

R.I.P. Firefighter / Dispatcher Mitch Fiandt, a friend

 A week ago I wrote here that Mitch Fiandt was fighting cancer, and now he's gone.

Just like that.

That's Mitch on the left, still in his dispatch uniform pants. Yeah, that's me on the right. We were so young.

 

I've had so many friends fight and beat cancer, at least for awhile, that it never occurred to me he wouldn't. But Mitch died just short of fifty years as a volunteer firefighter, having started at Orange Township Fire before he was even eighteen, back in the days when you could do that kind of thing. Cancer takes a lot of firefighters, especially the ones were around in the days when breathing protection was a mild suggestion. He told me once he breathed in some particularly bad stuff off the hot side of a burning house, back before he moved to Albion and joined our Department.

That old lung damage was one reason why he usually drove the fire trucks and ran the pump, rather than going inside--not that I didn't see him go in, more than once. And yet, when we had our annual lung capacity test, he always passed and usually ran circles around the rest of us.

There's not much I can say that isn't in his obituary, here:

https://www.harperfuneralhomes.com/obituary/Mitch-Fiandt?fbclid

 

If memory serves, in addition to being the Albion Fire Department Chief Engineer--a kind of honorary title acknowledging the fact that if we needed an apparatus operator, he was there--he also served as Secretary and Treasurer on the AFD.

He was also my boss for several years in Noble County Communications, or the 911 Center, or Dispatch, or whatever people will call it next year. He was there for 35 years, which did not bode well for his sanity, and was 911 Director from 1999 until he retired in 2015.

Here Mitch and John Urso, also a combo firefighter/dispatch, present me my 25 year dispatcher award, along with a certificate for a free psychotherapy session.

Mitch and I both served at various times on the Albion Town Council and the Albion Plan Commission, and he was in about a hundred other things as well, being the type who was always helping out. Even with my writing gig, he stayed busier than me. He was the first to tell me I should write a book about dispatching, which I will, as soon as the statue of limitations runs out.

The last time I saw him was at my grandmother's funeral: He had a part time gig with Harper's Funeral Home here in Albion. I don't believe he ever had a job or hobby that wasn't, in one way or another, about helping people.

And if that it's the best thing you can say about a person, I don't know what is.

More Fire Training Photos, or: Fun With Fire Trucks

Some photos I took at an Albion Fire Department training earlier this summer. As I recall, the temperatures got into the high 80s that day ... that's good weather for spraying water. After all, this is Indiana--it's not like the humidity could go up any more.

The photography part was spur of the moment this time, so these are cell phone photos ... although cell phone cameras are getting a lot better, these days. Considering how much I love taking pictures, I should keep the regular camera closer.