First Look: Salem's New $1.1M Fire Truck

The blueprints for Salem's new $1.1 million fire apparatus, which is being designed and built by the Pierce Manufacturing in Appleton, Wisc., recently arrived at the fire station.

On Monday afternoon, Salem Fire Chief David Cody was nice enough to let us look over the design plans for the department's new mid-mount aerial ladder truck, which is expected to arrive in Salem sometime this fall.

The $1.1 million purchase was included in the city's Capital Budget Plan for 2012. When the new ladder truck is completed, hand-inspected and and driven from Wisconsin to Salem, Cody said Ladder 1 will be sent to Station 4.

"We're not sending any of our older trucks to reserve status - with this purchase we're adding one new truck to service," Cody said.

The department's new ladder truck will be a "mid-mount tower" complete with a rear-mounted bucket, similar to an apparatus currently used by the Chelsea Fire Department - one that Cody said will better-equip the Salem Fire Department to handle larger fires.

"The bucket is just such a stable platform that it almost acts as a crane," Cody said. "Sometimes you end up putting people out onto rooftops that are pitched and with this truck you can just line the bucket up and work right from there."

There is no timeline for completion of the new ladder truck - though Pierce Manufacturing completed Marblehead's new $1.2 million quint in less than a year.