On Wednesday afternoon January 15th, the Dudley Fire Department took delivery of its new aerial ladder truck. The 2014 Sutphen SL 100-foot Aerial Ladder truck was manufactured by Sutphen Fire Apparatus of Dublin,Ohio.
The new ladder truck features a four door, five person custom cab and chassis, a powerful Cummins ISM 11.9 450 horsepower diesel engine, an Allison EVS 4000 transmission, and a 5-section 100-foot extruded-aluminum tubular ladder that is highly resistant to corrosion and has extraordinary strength and torsional rigidity.
Additionally, the truck has an on board Smart Power 10Kw generator, a 200-foot Hannay Electric Rewind Cord Reel, and a full compliment of NFPA 1931 compliant Alco-Lite ground ladders.
The pre-piped aerial waterway is topped off with an Elkhart Scorpion radio-controlled monitor nozzle to provide an elevated master stream if a situation requires.
The aerial ladder is also fitted with LED lighting to provide additional safety for firefighters ascending the aerial ladder during heavy smoke conditions. All of these features were packed into a truck with a shorter wheel base, so a shorter overall vehicle length could be achieved.
This feature will help get the aerial ladder truck into some of the tighter neighborhoods around Dudley.
Dudley firefighters are currently mounting additional firefighting equipment into the compartments of the vehicle, and training on the new ladder has already begun. Fire Chief Dean Kochanowski expects the new truck to be placed in service very shortly.
The expenditure for the new ladder truck was passed by Dudley voters at last year’s town elections, and the truck will be replacing a 34-year-old Thibeault 100-foot ladder truck that needed to be replaced.
The Sutphen is only the third aerial ladder truck the Dudley Fire Department has owned in its 54 year existence.
