Port Moody fire chief Ron Coulson couldn’t say whether the new pumper and ladder trucks his department put into service Wednesday still had that new fire truck smell, but he’s confident the gleaming apparatus will “ensure effective response” for years to come.
The trucks were unveiled in a socially-distanced ceremony on Thursday, during which attendees also got a chance to see Tower 1 show off some of the capabilities of its 100-ft. aerial ladder and four-person bucket that can pluck people from a 10-storey building or pump 2,000 gallons of water every minute.
For buildings taller than that, Coulson said, firefighters will just have to do what they’ve always done, slog their gear up stairs.
The new trucks replace older models that date back to the early-1990s. The old aerial will be sold at auction, while the previous pumper was sold for $1 to be used by the Seton Valley volunteer fire department that serves the communities of Seton Portage, Tsal’alh and Ohin.
The new trucks will be joined by two more in the coming years, as older vehicles reach the end of their service life of 20-25 years.
