The Duluth Fire Department Needs a New Ladder Truck

DULUTH, Minn.- The Duluth Fire Department Is in need of a new aerial truck for station four, as the former truck was recently put out of service.

First entering service in 1995, the former ladder truck obtained frame damage over the time of its long career.

In 2013, the truck became a reserve vehicle, putting it on a need-to-use basis, and was officially retired on August 11th of this year.

“We use ladder trucks to serve community areas that have buildings three stories or in excess of that, unique to four station, it has 97 structures that meet that criteria of three stories or more,” said DFD Deputy Chief Scott Kleive.

Aerial trucks are used mostly for larger structure fires, to ensure firefighters can reach each incident conveniently.

For the Duluth Fire Department, station four is one of three stations requiring a ladder truck.

“We anticipate 15 to 18 months to have this custom piece of apparatus built and looking forward to the support to get that construction process underway,” said Deputy Chief Kleive.

Station four has 97 structures containing three or more stories in its response area, in addition to assisting neighboring regions.

Receiving a new ladder truck is crucial for the fire department, especially with the recent uptick of structure fires in the Northland.

The fire department hopes to begin the building process of the new truck very soon.