New St. Albert tower fire truck to be responding to calls by fall

St. Albert's second tower fire truck is displayed on July 16, 2025. (Dave Mitchell / CTV News Edmonton)

St. Albert’s second tower fire truck has arrived.

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The former stock truck has had the city’s name on it for about eight months. Buying a stock truck was quicker than having one built, and more ideal in the face of increasing build costs and tariff uncertainty, said fire chief Everett Cook. It cost $3.1 million.

The truck will be put into service potentially by the end of August, after staff have trained on it.

A tower truck goes to almost every call that could be fire related.

The new truck can reach up to 33 metres, or 100 feet.

“They are a busy piece of equipment. Having a second apparatus in our fleet also allows us the opportunity to not have to rely on our neighbours around us should one of our units go down for routine or non-routine maintenance,” Cook said.

He noted the city has grown to about 74,000 residents and is seeing more multi-storey buildings be built, including some 10-storeys.

“As we grow and our fourth fire hall comes online, we’ll likely have one of these tower units established or set up at both ends of our city.”

The truck’s life should be about 20 years.

The other tower unit was built in 2017.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Dave Mitchell