High River Firefighters getting used to new ladder truck

High River firefighters are busy training on a new piece of equipment.

They retired their old ladder truck and, as Fire Chief Cody Zebedee explains, they're getting used to a new one.

"Given that it's a new piece of equipment and technology has significantly changed in the 21, almost 22 years since our other one was in service, there a substantial amount of learning for our staff," said Zebedee.

The new truck's ladder extends 25 feet further than the old one, to 100 feet in total, along with a basket at the end of the ladder.

"It definitely creates some advantages from that perspective being able to see where we're putting the water but also gives us some added extrication or rescue capacity with the ability to actually mount a Stokes basket so in the event someone was working on the roof of building and suffered a medical emergency or an injury this allows us to actually mount the rescue basket to the platform of the truck and bring them down," he says. "It also helps us increase the fire fighter safety when we're talking about getting on to roofs, a lot of work where we may have had to be standing on the roof to do in the past we can do right from the platform now."

Zebedee says it's also an advantage to have the basket there in case they need to bring seniors or people with mobility issues down from upper floors.

The new ladder truck can also pump out almost a thousand gallons a minute more of water than the old one could.

The department hopes to have it in service in the next week to ten days.