No fire ladder truck in service in Sudbury

With both of its ladder trucks out for repairs, firefighters in Greater Sudbury are being trained on an old truck as they await the arrival of a new one.

Greater Sudbury Fire Services has been without access to a ladder truck for the past month.

Two units are in for repairs and training is taking place on an older spare unit that is expected to go into service in a month.

The service’s primary aerial ladder truck, which is worth more than $3 million, is being repaired, as is the reserve unit. The work is being done in southern Ontario.

“They come here when possible but sometimes we have to send the unit down there,” said Deputy Fire Chief Jesse Oshell.

“In this case, our primary unit did go to southern Ontario in order to be assessed for significant failure. It is down there now. The parts come from an American supplier that is being expedited, with that unit to return to the community as soon as possible.”

Oshell said there is an older ladder truck and training is taking place to bring it back into service. That process will take about a month.

“It is an older unit -- it is over 20 years old -- and so specialized training has to be developed for this unit due to regulations and requirements today,” he said.

“(It’s) something that wasn’t in place before. So we are expediting that and we are ensuring that is a top priority.”

Despite the absence of the truck, Oshell said the service can still provide high-angle technical responses.

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“We are absolutely providing service to the community,” he said.

“We are absolutely still providing rope rescue technical service, high-angle rescues and we are doing that in any way shape or form we can, safely, through the training and equipment and tools that we have today.”

While city council has approved the purchase of a new ladder truck, it will take up to three years to get the new unit.