On May 2, the Longmont Fire Department celebrated the arrival and commissioning of a new ladder truck with a “traditional, ceremonial event,” according to Longmont Public Safety. After the event, the new ladder truck (unit number 52274) officially went into service in the City of Longmont.
The ceremony, called a “push-in,” was a symbolic gesture that involves members of a fire department pushing a fire truck into the fire station, a tradition that “dates to the era of horse-drawn fire engines, when firefighters would manually push the apparatus back into the firehouse after a call,” according to Longmont Public Safety.
Push-in ceremonies pay homage to firefighters in the 1800s who used horse-drawn equipment, according to the City of Longmont’s Public Information Officer Rogelio Mares. It is a widely-practiced tradition for new fire department vehicles. Mares also said that the department participated in a “wet-down” of the new truck. A wet-down is a ritual celebrated by fire departments in which firefighters commission a new fire apparatus by spraying it with water from the retiring pumper’s tank water. Longmont’s previous front-line ladder truck will transition into reserve status and function as a backup for another ten years of service.
A ladder truck carries multiple ground and aerial ladders of different lengths and purposes, like reaching the upper floors of buildings. The trucks also carry rescue equipment for forcible entry, extrication, and power tools such as chain saws, ventilation fans, and lighting equipment.
The new truck is a 2024 Pierce Dash, 100-foot aerial tower, according to Mares. The ladder truck weighs approximately 70,000 pounds and is possibly too heavy for firefighters to push uphill into Station 1's garage bay on Terry Street. So, as part of Friday’s ceremony, Longmont firefighters gathered together to push on the front bumper, but the new truck was also running in reverse, at idle speed, Mares said. Ladder Truck Engineer Bill Bishard said that he had to “use a lot of brake” as the ladder truck was being pushed into its new home.
The truck was officially ordered from Pierce Manufacturing in January of 2022 and arrived in Longmont on February 12 this year. For the last few months, the department has been mounting tools, hoses, and all other equipment/dispatching electronics onto the truck. Longmont's Fire Training Division has also spent the last months working to facilitate department-wide training to ensure that staff can safely and efficiently operate the vehicle.
“The department takes great pride in selecting and maintaining fire apparatus that serve our community,” Mares said. “The previous Ladder Truck (unit 52161) is a 2011 Pierce Aerial Tower and has been serving as Longmont's front-line for over 14 years and has run on approximately 13,000 (911) calls for service.”
In March, Longmont Public Safety shared some additional “fun facts” about the fire department’s new truck: “The new ladder truck has a tighter turning radius, allowing crews to access locations for response and rescue operations in the city's tightest streets; there is a Colorado flag in the front grill, if you look closely; [the] truck is different from all previous ladder trucks because the ladder pivots in the center of the truck instead of the rear; and [the] truck's communication headsets are Bluetooth-enabled, so they can be worn outside the vehicle — this allows for better crew communication on scene while working around and on the ladder.”
The City of Longmont has not publicly disclosed the specific cost of the new aerial tower ladder truck and the Longmont Leader is currently waiting for confirmation on the price of the truck. However, in 2020, the Shelton Fire Department in Connecticut purchased a similar Pierce ladder truck for approximately $1.35 million.
