The incident dropped two firefighters onto the roof of Shadi's Restaurant & Lounge on Osgood Street after what Fire Chief Steven Buote describes as a "major structural failure" occurred.
"It could have been a real tragedy," he told the newspaper.
The rear left outrigger collapsed while two firefighters were in the bucket. The bucket dropped down about six inches onto the roof.
The firefighters were briefly trapped and yelled for the truck's operator to get them out. Buote said they were lucky that the roof broke their fall.
No one was injured, but the 1996 Nova Quintech was taken out of service and the department is without a ladder truck.
"We're looking into maybe borrowing one from one of the departments around that may have a spare," Buote said.
He said the outrigger collapse was most likely caused by "steel fatigue" and not by a lack of maintenance or rust.
