Ladder 129 Wet Down
February 1st marked a significant event in history of our fire district. On this day the District conducted it first “wet down” ceremony which christened a new piece of apparatus but acknowledged the ending of a career and service for another apparatus.
This ceremony included remarks from our Board Chairman Mr. Mike Mulyck in which he praised the committee for its dedication and hard work in researching and designing the Ladder Tower.
He also expressed his gratitude to the firefighters, staff and public that attended to mark such an important day.
Chief Andy Price explained the history of the process that led to the acquisition as follows:
“This ceremony marks the end and a beginning; two ends to be exact, the first is the end of an era in which this district operated a 75’ truck that served our and surrounding communities for more
than 15 years. The second is an end of a committee, which began over a year ago and has culminated in the acquisition of a top of the line functional piece of apparatus the will serve us for the next 20+
years. This committee was charged with two things; first evaluate our need for a ladder truck. Second, if we do need one what will best meet our needs. In short order they made a case for not only replacing the truck but changing its capabilities by having a tower (bucket at the end) and extending its reach to 100 feet. They determined that our ISO rating would be impacted and would lessen our present rating which could reflect high insurance premiums for our residents and business owners.
They surveyed our district and found that our present truck could not reach some of our highest buildings and the new construction within our community. No longer do we have the basic 1200-1800
sq ft ground level home that was the mainstay for more than 50 years. Today the homes are 3500 – 12,000 sq ft and cover the maximum of the lot by not only the square footage but by the maximum height allowable. These new three story homes are difficult to reach and the committee found that our present truck could not effectively or safely place firefighters to the roof and the set backs on the sides
of the buildings did not allow for the use ground ladders, nor did we have them long enough to reach the roof. The new ladder tower will reach most of these newer homes but more importantly will provide
a safe working platform for our firefighters to operate from. The committee spent many hours researching manufactures, chassis types, lengths and capabilities of the ladder and made road trips to inspect other apparatus and speak with those that operate them to gain insight as to what worked, what was needed and what wasn’t needed. The committee decided on the 100’ ladder tower made by Pierce manufacturing which is out of Appleton Wisconsin, as well as a plant here in Bradenton. Ten-8 fire equipment was the dealer and Mr. John Thompson was our sales rep. I would like to thank not only thank John but also Don and Dan Bower of Ten-8 for providing us such a quality apparatus.
About the Vehicle:
2006 Pierce Arrow XT Chassis 100’ Ladder Tower
515 HP Detroit Diesel Engine
Allison Automatic Transmission
2000 GPM Pump
Foam Pro CAF System
10KW Hydraulic Generator
Side Roll Air Bag Protection
We need to publicly thank our Board of Fire Commissioners for supporting and funding this project and the Committee: B/C Richard Losek, FF John Stump, FF Paul Hopkins, FF Mike Bugel and FF Nate Bergbom for doing such a great job. They spent many hours and additional time away from home in serving on this committee and truly meet our value statement of “Excellence through Commitment, Courage and Compassion”. We achieve this excellence by committing to providing the best possible service to our community, Courage to face dangerous situations at a moments notice and
the compassion to know the effects of life changing emergencies and treating people with understanding, respect and concern”.
District Pastor Mark Evelyth gave a commemorative invocation and blessing of the apparatus which was followed by the wet down by the stations crews. All were then invited to push the apparatus
into the station and then wipe it down making it ready to respond.
Our communications center alerted all the stations and officially put into service L129 as follows:
“Standby for announcement” ALL CALL (WMFR Only) West Manatee Fire Rescue would like to announce the
retirement of Truck 123, asset number 51794 and welcome the new apparatus Ladder 129, asset number 51029.
We would like to wish Truck 123 and Ladder 129, and those assigned to them, a safe journey and the skills necessary to provide the best possible service to our visitors and citizens. Ladder 129 is Herby placed into service at West Manatee Fire & Rescue Station 2 this 1st day of February, 2007.
