01-26-2022 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Little Canada Fire Department, Inc. 325 Little Canada Road East Little Canada, Minnesota 55117 Office: (651) 792-7680 Fax: (651) 766-7092 To: Mayor Keis and Members of the City Council From: Don Smiley, Fire Chief Date: January 21, 2022 RE: Ladder truck replacement BACKGROUND: The current ladder truck was purchased in 1992 and is approaching the 30-year mark. The replacement date was extended twice to assist with spreading out fire truck replacements. A committee was formed over two years ago to begin a needs assessment for the ladder truck replacement. The committee has spent hundreds of hours meeting with other departments to view their ladder trucks and touring various venders to find the best product for the city and the fire department. The committee prepared specifications for a new aerial ladder. The selected 110’ aerial will have more capabilities than our current ladder truck. We determined a platform was needed versus a straight ladder only. A platform allows for greater firefighter safety as they can simply get in the bucket versus having to climb to the end of the ladder in full gear. A platform allows multiple firefighters to be able to assist at the end of the ladder versus one. This allows for safer operation for the firefighters and greatly enhances the rescue capabilities of victims at a fire. The 110’ aerial allows for 35’ of added reach versus our current 75’ aerial ladder. The extra length will allow us to reach multiple apartment buildings and residential structures with the aerial device that we cannot reach today. In 2020 we had joint discussions with Vadnais Heights about the possibility of sharing a ladder truck. After several meetings to discuss the advantages and disadvantages the group felt this was not a feasible option for either department. The committee did a great job of making the hard decisions of what was desired versus needed.