Bellefontaine Fire Department’s new aerial ladder truck that arrived this week will soon be in service after firefighters undergo about two weeks of training on the new apparatus. (EXAMINER PHOTO | Mandy Loehr)
A special delivery several years in the making arrived at the Bellefontaine Fire Department Tuesday, Oct. 31, in the form of a $1,376,000 aerial ladder truck.
BFD’s Truck 21 is creating a real enthusiasm and energy among BFD firefighters, who will be training on the new mid-mount Sutphen apparatus with a 100-foot platform in the next two weeks, Assistant Fire Chief T.J. Weikart said Wednesday.
The city was awarded a Federal Emergency Management Agency Assistance to Firefighters Grant grant totaling $763,333.33 that helped to secure the purchase, as previously detailed in the Examiner. The fire department’s previously 28-year-old ladder truck had become unreliable in recent years and needed to be replaced, officials noted.
“We’re very excited to add this new ladder truck to our Fire Department,” Mayor Ben Stahler said. “We’ve been applying for grants and setting aside funding for such an event for many years.
“In 2020, we applied once again for outside funding (FEMA – Assistance to Firefighters Grant) and after receiving notice of the grant award, we ordered the fire truck in the fall of 2021.
“Like other automotive production, it’s been a waiting game over these past two years. While our previous ladder truck was built in Nebraska, our new one was built just down the road in Dublin, Ohio.”
Bellefontaine’s longtime Smeal 1995 aerial ladder truck, which arrived here in 1996, has undergone significant repairs to keep it in service. It will be kept as a back-up ladder truck for the department, Weikart noted.
The assistant fire chief said the while both of the aerial ladder trucks are roughly the same length and each has a 100-foot platform, the older vehicle was a rear-mount ladder truck. The new mid-mount truck “will be different for us, so that’s why the training will be so helpful.”
During the next two weeks, community members might spot Truck 21 and the firefighters out out at the Logan County Fairgrounds and practicing among buildings in the downtown area with a Sutphen representative.
Following the training, the new ladder truck will be fully in service for the city.
“Having this ladder truck further enhances our team’s ability to handle structure fires, both here at home and neighboring communities through our mutual aid response efforts,” Mayor Stahler said.
“An additional benefit to our community is to hold down premium costs on property and casualty insurance by having this equipment in Bellefontaine.”
Planning for the new ladder truck was made possible with the BFD’s ladder spec committee, which includes Weikart, alongside Assistant Chief Ben Kennedy and firefighters Nate Alexander and Vince Wulf.
The process even included Sutphen bringing in a demo truck to ensure that the ladder truck would fit inside the fire department’s garage.
The Smeal ladder truck, in fact, has a low-profile chassis, only one of two trucks specifically manufactured for the BFD and Springfield that year, Weikart said. The department opted not to go that route again for a low-profile chassis, as it can make repairs a little more challenging since it’s such a specially-made vehicle.
The addition of the Sutphen truck makes for the third ladder truck that Weikart has the privilege to utilize during his time at the department, he noted.
“It’s pretty entertaining to think about that,” he said, noting the ladder truck prior to the Smeal truck was a Ford Seagrave with a 65-foot ladder manufactured in 1960. It was utilized by the department until the mid-1990s.
“I’m hoping maybe they’ll invite me back from retirement when they get another ladder truck many years down the road.”
