Austin, Tx Fire/Rescue

[Guest]

Some departments do not have the luxury of having straight truck companies. What if the engine housed with your dry stick gets a call and the next closest engine is several minutes out. How does the fire chief explain to the taxpayer that his $600k+ ladder truck can't put wetstuff on the red srtuff when his house/car/etc... is burning while waiting for a pumper to arrive. There are some cities/areas of the country that can still run/justify dry stick trucks. Most of the departments that run quints as Truck Companies do so out of economic necessity. 4 of the 5 Truck co's in Mobile are quints. They run with an engine at thier stations. There heve been several occasions over the years when the truck co was first on scene and water was needed now, not 3 to 5 minutes from then. A properly spece'd quint, run as a Truck Company, can give you an edge if used properly. What we must remember is that 75+% of all calls are for other than fires now days anyway. I am not against dry stick ladder trucks, but most places simply can not afford them in this day and age.