SPFD new ladder truck goes into service on Monday

By Brandi Makuski

The Stevens Point Fire Department on Monday unveiled its new ride.

Fire Chief Jb Moody emceed the department’s push-in ceremony on May 15, a longstanding, celebratory tradition anytime a fire department acquires a new engine.

“Because fire trucks are a sizable purchase for a community, a push-in ceremony is a means to bring communities together to see what their tax dollars went for, at a formal event,” Moody said on Monday. “Truck 22 is going into service today.”

And Truck 22 went into service immediately. The push-in ceremony was interrupted by a call for a fire alarm on the 2600 block of Indiana Ave., so it rolled out for the first time at 3:37 p.m.

According to Motor Pump Operator/Paramedic Ben Schultz, the 2023 Pierce comes with a four-person cab and an Enforcer chassis. It’s 39 feet long and weighs 56,000 pounds, and comes with a 107-foot ladder — the longest in SPFD’s fleet.

Schultz said because SPFD is an all-Pierce fleet (the manufacturer is based in Appleton), it was able to strike a deal and bring down the original $1.4 million price tag to about $936,000.

“We didn’t want a truck with a lot of bells and whistles, we wanted a truck to perform,” he said.

Moody said the cost was built into the department’s budget and arrived in Stevens Point on March 6.

“It’ll be in service as a primary apparatus for the next 10 years here at Station 2, and in reserve status for another 12, and hopefully sell it somewhere between the 22- and 25-year mark,” Moody said.