‘It’s quicker, easier and safer’: Waukegan’s new fire truck opens up a slew of new possibilities - Chicago Tribune

2021-12-24 07:51:17 By : Mr. Leon Lee

A person trapped nearly 100 feet off the ground in Waukegan no longer needs to descend on a ladder guided by a firefighter paramedic.

People can now be rescued and lowered to the ground in a basket affixed to a crane mechanism attached to the Waukegan Fire Department’s newest piece of equipment.

The Fire Department took possession of its $1.4 million 95-foot Seagrave Aerialscope fire truck earlier this month at its headquarters station on Belvedere Road in Waukegan enabling four firefighters and their equipment to reach the top of nearly any building in the city simultaneously.

Lt. Todd Zupec said the new truck is the first of its kind in Illinois. Unlike the older models, no ladder climbing is necessary.

“It’s a really unique apparatus,” Zupec said. “The lift operates off a crane beam.”

Battalion Chief Brett Stickels said the new truck allows multiple firefighters to more easily reach a victim in need of rescue, or to attack a fire whether in a high-rise building or a traditional home.

“We can put a victim on a stretcher, and lay the stretcher in the basket,” Stickels said. “A crane lowers them to the ground. A firefighter can be in the basket with them. It’s better to have the firefighter with (a victim) during the rescue. They descend gently. They don’t have to walk down 100 steps of a ladder anymore.”

Not only will the new truck enable firefighters to reach the top of Waukegan’s tallest buildings like the Lake County Courthouse and multi-family high-rise dwellings, Stikels said it is helpful removing people trapped on cellular telephone towers and smoke stacks.

“We’ve had a few rescues there,” he said, referring to towers.

Rather than one firefighter climbing a ladder carrying equipment, Stickels said three to four can ascend together with their gear and move into position for a rescue or to extinguish a fire.

Since the lift can go straight up or at different angles, he said it can rise over a blockage in a road to get firefighters closer to a blaze or a person in need of help.

“It is very helpful in a situation where a car is balancing over a bridge ready to fall off, or we need to get to a trapped construction worker,” Stickles said.

While the weight limit is 1,000 pounds when the beam is at a right angle, Zupec said it can lift as much as 5,000 pounds when it is at a lesser incline. It can move a car out of distress.

Extinguishing a fire can be done more safely using the new truck. Stickels said firefighters usually climb stairs in a building to fight fires on upper floors. Utilizing the new equipment, they can operate a hose in the lift’s basket outside a burning building.

Stickels said there are times it is necessary to cut a hole in the roof of a burning building to more easily douse a fire. Though there is danger standing on a roof to fight a fire, firefighters can stand in the basket of the new truck to both cut the hole and operate the hose.

“It’s quicker, easier and safer,” Stickels said.

As soon as the new truck arrived, the firefighters began training on it to become comfortable working there. Stickels said they want everybody properly trained before using the equipment.

The new truck replaces a 25-year-old 75-foot ladder truck which was, “well beyond its expected life,” he said