Mansfield firefighters begin training on new aerial ladder truck

MANSFIELD — The potential life-saving reach of the Mansfield Fire Department just got longer and wider.

Firefighters began training this week on the city’s new $848,956 Pierce Manufacturing Ascendant rear-mount steel aerial ladder truck, which was recently accepted from the company’s facility in Appleton, Wisc. and driven home by Mansfield firefighters.

The new vehicle has an “unprecedented” 107 feet of vertical reach and 100 feet of horizontal reach, according to the Pierce website, “without compromising on water capacity, performance, or safety.”

Mansfield City Council in March approved purchase of the truck at a cost not to exceed $848,956. Funds for the truck are coming from the fire department’s capital equipment fund, which derives its money from city EMS runs.

A Pierce representative is in Mansfield this week to train local firefighters.

The truck, dubbed Ladder 1 when it goes into service in January after training is complete, has a reach of about 32 feet longer than the department’s other aerial ladder truck, which will remain in service.

It will based at the Central Fire Station, 140 E. Third St.

Assistant Chief Mark Sieving said firefighters are excited about the new truck, which will respond to every structure fire in the city when it goes into service. He said the new truck has a lot more computer technology on board and will “self-level” quicker without firefighters having to “jockey” one side and then the other.

Those seconds could mean the difference in an emergency situation.

Sieving said the gain in horizontal reach could be as important as vertical during those rescues over ditches or vehicles or other obstacles.

The new truck has room for six firefighters inside, but Sieving said it will remain a two-man ladder crew.