A two-story residential fire Thursday in the Kensington community tested the city and county's ability to fight a blaze without their own ladder trucks.
Four months after a large industrial fire at the Screen Tight plant damaged several ladder trucks, the vehicles used to fight high-rise fires still are out of service, emergency officials said.
Meanwhile, the city and the county are relying on the ladder truck from Midway Fire Department to reach the top of large structures and ventilate heat from the roof.
There is no word on when the county's ladder truck will return to service because final repairs and safety tests are not finished.
The city's ladder truck is being rebuilt, and it will take six to eight months for it to be returned, City Fire Chief Joey Tanner said.
The city hopes to purchase a used ladder truck in the next few weeks, Tanner said.
The used truck can be used to service the new housing development on South Island Road, he said.
"We're in the process of trying to get a used ladder truck for this period of time," Tanner said. "We have identified one that we want to purchase. Basically, for the same amount of money we could lease one, we can buy one. We're using every avenue so it will not be a burden on the taxpayers."
Insurance has covered the cost of repairing the city's truck, Tanner said.
Some money from impact fees is being used to pay for a used truck, he said.
Insurance covered the cost of repairs to the county's ladder truck, said Mike Mock, director of emergency services.
Several other county trucks damaged by the Screen Tight fire are being repaired, he said.
In the meantime, firefighters can call for backup from the Midway ladder truck or use other methods to ventilate heat and rising gas from a large structure.
Windows and doors were opened during Thursday's fire in Kensington. The Midway ladder truck was called, but the vehicle could not fit in the tight space near the house because the brick structure was surrounded by pine trees, County Fire Chief Mack Reed said.
The damage was contained to the back side of the house.
The fire might have started in the kitchen area, Reed said. No one was hurt by the blaze. The residents were not home when the fire broke out.
The ladder trucks owned by the city and the county were damaged because of exposure to hydrochloric acid, a chemical created by burning materials at the Screen Tight plant.
The city's truck, which cost $725,000, cannot be used because the toxic fumes damaged the vehicle's hoses and cables.
The county's fleet of fire engines and tanker trucks also took a beating from the fire.
Smoke and flames coming from the plant damaged more than a dozen engines, cars and ladder trucks from across the county.
About 15 trucks and vehicles from the city and county were damaged by the fire.
The byproduct of burning material used to make screen doors turned the metal trim on firetrucks different colors and contaminated other vehicles, fire officials said.
The cause of the blaze still is under investigation. Screen Tight, which was built in 1998, was not required to have a sprinkler system. Newer buildings on the 22-acre site, used to make other products, have sprinkler systems, officials said.
The codes were updated in 2003, but there is no requirement for older buildings to be updated.
Sprinklers are required if a building has a new owner and is being used for a new purpose.
Distributed by the Associated Press
