The 2003-model ladder truck was purchased from a fire department in Pennsylvania by the Tusculum Volunteer Fire Department. It arrived Saturday.
New Tusculum Volunteer Fire Department Ladder Truck
A five-man crew from the Tusculum Volunteer Fire Department drove Friday to Pennsylvania to pick up a ladder truck soon to be in service in Tusculum. The truck arrived Saturday morning. From left are Nathan Hensley, Gene Mullett, Scott Crawford, Tanner Barkley and Collin Rice.
This 2003-model ladder truck purchased from a fire department in Pennsylvania by the Tusculum Volunteer Fire Department has a ladder that extends to 105 feet.
The 2003-model ladder truck was purchased from a fire department in Pennsylvania by the Tusculum Volunteer Fire Department. It arrived Saturday.
New Tusculum Volunteer Fire Department Ladder Truck
A five-man crew from the Tusculum Volunteer Fire Department drove Friday to Pennsylvania to pick up a ladder truck soon to be in service in Tusculum. The truck arrived Saturday morning. From left are Nathan Hensley, Gene Mullett, Scott Crawford, Tanner Barkley and Collin Rice.
This 2003-model ladder truck purchased from a fire department in Pennsylvania by the Tusculum Volunteer Fire Department has a ladder that extends to 105 feet.
A multi-purpose ladder truck is the newest addition to the Tusculum Volunteer Fire Department’s roster.
The arrival of the truck Saturday morning from a fire department in Pennsylvania is “a milestone event” for Tusculum, fire Chief Marty Shelton said.
The 2003 Pierce truck includes a 105-foot aerial ladder. The fire department took delivery of the “new-to-us” aerial ladder truck on Friday, ending an extensive search to replace a 1997-model model currently in service in Tusculum.
The need for a replacement had long been discussed and was noted during a 2020 Insurance Services Office inspection “that enforced the need for such equipment,” Shelton said.
Tusculum is the second volunteer department in Greene County to acquire a ladder truck. The Town of Mosheim Volunteer Fire Department added an aerial apparatus several years ago.
The Greeneville Fire Department has three aerial trucks, including two front-line trucks and one in reserve.
With its 105-foot ladder, the Tusculum Volunteer Fire Department truck “will be the tallest aerial apparatus in Greene County, and with a 2,000 gallon-per-minute pump, possibly the largest pump capacity also,” Shelton said.
Fire department members and City of Tusculum officials met in fall 2020 following the ISO visit with representatives from the First Tennessee Development District and established a plan to apply for a grant to obtain a ladder truck.
There was only a “short time-frame to turn in the information,” Shelton said.
“Data on the department as well as door-to-door public surveys were compiled in addition to other information collected as we moved forward,” he said.
In January, a $298,075 grant for purchase of the fire truck was announced by Gov. Bill Lee and the state Department of Economic and Community Development as one of 62 Community Development Block Grants statewide.
The grant required a 16% match from the City of Tusculum, or about $48,000.
The truck was purchased for $245,000, with the remainder of the grant money to be used for “minor repairs to the truck,” Mayor Alan Corley said.
Planned repairs and purchases include new tires, a rear bumper, upgrading to LED lighting, and equipment the fire department currently does not have that is required to meet National Fire Protection Association standards for a ladder truck, Corley said.
“The addition of this truck to our fleet will allow us to reach the top of all the buildings in our fire protection area for life safety and firefighting purposes. Also, during our recent ISO visit, the survey indicated that the lack of a truck with this capability was the reason we were not able to improve our ISO rating,” Corley said. “We hope to be able to have ISO reconsider in light of the addition of this truck, and we expect that our ISO rating will improve, which will allow most homeowners and business owners in our area to see a reduction in their property insurance costs.”
Shelton thanked the state and city officials for making the purchase of the truck possible.
“The Tusculum Volunteer Fire Department owes a great deal of gratitude for being selected to receive this opportunity to many people, especially the City of Tusculum who led this process for us,” Shelton said.
After the ISO visit, the fire department began “looking online, emailing, calling, and (using) other methods to inquire about the available and affordable trucks on the market,” Shelton said.
“The search was shifted into high gear once we found out we were awarded the grant,” he said.
Several prospective trucks were identified, but they exceeded the grant amount and the fire department’s available budget.
“Others were in bad shape, had high mileage, or just were not the right truck for Tusculum,” Shelton said.
A fire department truck committee was formed “to filter through” available trucks, he said. Calls were placed and emails sent to obtain the specifics on each truck.
“The truck that we chose to purchase was being found in several of our member searches at approximately the same time. More details included descriptions of the unit, pictures of everything about the truck, service records, images of the truck in action, and more,” Shelton said.
The fire department truck committee traveled several months ago to Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The truck was in service with the Newtown Square Fire Company. The distance from Tusculum to the Philadelphia-area township is 567 miles, a nine-hour drive.
The committee presented its findings upon return to fire department members, “and it was officially decided to make an offer to purchase the aerial,” Shelton said.
“This truck coincidentally went up for sale at the same time the Tusculum Volunterr Fire Department started officially looking for one,” he added.
On Friday morning, a crew left Tusculum headed to the Newtown Square Fire Company to pick up the ladder truck. It arrived early Saturday in Tusculum.
“The two volunteer fire departments and the City of Tusculum has worked tirelessly to make this happen. The Newtown Square Fire Company has been great to work with through this process, having understood the needs of the grant and having patience as we worked through them,” Shelton said.
Shelton described the aerial ladder truck and the service it will provide to the community. The truck has a rated flow of 2,000 gallons per minute and seating for six firefighters. It is built on a 500-horsepower Dash-2000 chassis that is 40 feet long, with a 238.5-inch wheelbase.
The truck is 11 feet, 6 inches tall and has a maximum gross vehicle weight of 76,800 pounds. It carries 470 gallons of water and a 30-gallon foam tank with space “for a large amount of firefighting and rescue equipment,” Shelton said.
Equipment the fire department already owns “will be placed on the apparatus with the needed tools and upgrades ordered to outfit the ladder truck as necessary,” he said.
The truck is equipped to respond to a variety of calls, including structure fires and fire alarms, especially at commercial and industrial properties. The truck can also be used for rescues in situations like people on roofs or in trees, or cars in water with occupants who can be horizontally reached with the ladder or overhead anchor points for rope rescues.
“Anything is possible, within reason, that it may be needed to gain access from above for life safety or fire suppression or to save on manpower to apply a lot of water from an elevated position,” Shelton said. “In the end, we will use it to provide a service, but we will still have to make sure the safety of the members and our equipment is not compromised with where it can go and what it can do.”
The familiarization process will begin this week for firefighters to learn safe operation of the ladder truck. Deciding where to place equipment to match other fire department apparatus layouts will also be done.
“It will take a little time to transition into (the truck) being fully in service. Driver’s training and the operational limitations will be drilled on extensively to our members in the upcoming weeks,” Shelton said. “A class on using ladder trucks will be investigated for a more structured training regimen. With some of the TVFD members employed by career fire departments that have this type of fire truck, it will benefit our process of implementing it sooner into service and training the members.”
The Tusculum Volunteer Fire Department has an annual volume of about 300 calls, including responding to fires in eight surrounding mutual aid and automatic-aid departments.
Tusculum “routinely answers calls to assist in other areas,” Shelton said, including industrial fires from Jonesborough to Dandridge, wildland fires in the Sevierville and Gatlinburg areas, and other local assistance calls.
“A working relationship with all agencies is vital to providing quality customer service, and that has been proven with all our neighbors,” Shelton said.
Tusculum works with the other 14 volunteer fire departments in Greene County, the Greeneville Fire Department, and (neighboring) Washington County fire departments, including Limestone and Nolichucky Valley.
Local fire departments often work and train together “to increase our abilities, both on the fireground and on the drill field,” Shelton said.
The ladder truck is available for public inspection at the fire station, 145 Alexander St. The Tusculum Volunteer Fire Department meets at 7 p.m. each Monday for training at the fire station.
“We strive to constantly update and improve our services to Tusculum and surrounding areas. The department welcomes anyone to stop by and see the current and planned future improvements while encouraging people to join the department,” Shelton said.
The next priority for the fire department is construction of a new fire station, on Alexander Street across from Tusculum City Hall.
The Tusculum Board of Mayor and Commissioners in 2020 approved rezoning a tract of land next to the city’s multi-purpose building on Alexander Street for future location of the fire station.
The city received confirmation earlier in 2022 that federal American Rescue Plan Act funds can be used toward construction of a new fire station. The project is currently in the planning stage, Corley said.
“We have published a public Request for Proposals to design/build the new station, and we will open and review those requests in late July. At that time, we will review the RFPs and decide whether to and how to proceed with the new station,” Corley said.
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