Lantzville Fire Rescue firefighters have a new tool in their arsenal, and it's a big one – their first ladder truck.
Neil Rukus, Lantzville's fire chief, said the 1997 E1 Superior Quint's capabilities extend past just responding to fires in tall buildings.
"Large structures such as the newly built Aspengrove gymnasium is the perfect example of where the ladder truck could be used to fight a fire in a building that is not multi-storey," Rukus said. "While it is not a tall building, the square footage of that building would definitely require a ladder truck if a fire were to break out in there."
Aside from the 23-metre ladder, the truck boasts the ability to hold 1,500 litres of water that it can shoot out in an elevated stream.
"So when you have a fire where a building is collapsed and you need to get water inside of it or a large fire where you have a hard time reaching it with fire hoses we're able to reach out with the ladder truck and spray down into the building which will cut down on the time we have to spend on scene digging through that stuff and getting at it."
The vehicle was purchased from the Port Alberni Fire Department, where Rukus said it was recently used in fighting the August fire at the former Somass Sawmill site which required a multi-department response from Beaver Creek, Cherry Creek and Sproat Lake.
The vehicle is planned to be in service by April, after training begins in January to implement it into the fleet.
"Given we never had a ladder truck before it's going to take some time to train people. This is a big difference from anything we had before and it comes with a lot of risk as well, so the safety side is extremely important that we cover all our bases in our training to use it."
Before it will be ready, the truck is undergoing some minor upgrades including switching lighting to LED, new wheels and new batteries.
A total of $100,000 was allocated in the district's budget for the purchase.
Residents will get to see the truck for themselves during a parade on Dec. 7 from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m., as it makes its glorious debut fully decked out with lights for the season.
"It's here, it's a new tool in our toolbox and the crews are super excited to get it out the door, get it going and have the opportunity to use it. We look forward to having it on the street and introducing it to the community."
Overall, emergency calls have been slightly down for the year. From Jan. 1 to Nov. 20 in 2023 the department responded to 175 calls for service, which dropped to 163 in 2024.
Rukus contributed the slight decrease to the weather, with it being a wet and cooler year resulting in fewer fires.
"We didn't see the nuisance and brush fires that we might get in other years, so we could easily contribute 12 calls missing in this year's stats to not having as many wildfire-related calls we had in the previous year…" Rukus said. "A lot of what we do here is weather generated. If we have a sustained hot spell, we'll tend to get some more brush fires. If we get the weather events with rain and snow and ice, we tend to get motor vehicle accidents."
