The Williams Lake Fire Department is ecstatic about the newest addition to their fire-fighting arsenal.
They recently received a brand new Ladder Truck that will be replacing their current one which they’ve been using for approximately the past 24 years.
Deputy Fire Chief Joan Flaspohler said this apparatus comes with many more features.
“One of the things this apparatus has is within the seating area we have seven jump seats, which means that when our members get into that truck, and we’re trying to on route get to a call, those members can actually put their self-contained breathing apparatuses on while on route rather than arriving, having to get out of that apparatus, and then try and get that equipment on. That’s very advantageous.”
Flaspohler added that they’ve had a Ladder Truck in the Department from when they were in the older hall, and it was time to get a new one to be able to serve everyone in the community so that we know it’s reliable and it’s going to assist us in any type of call we get.
“The Ladder Truck in the past and having a Ladder Truck for this community is critical because of the large industry we have and also the aspects of us being able to rescue people.” Flaspohler said, “We don’t have any other agencies close by that have a Ladder Truck so it’s the only one that’s really serving us.”
City Councilor Jason Ryll said once they awarded the tender back in 2020 that’s when work began on the construction of the new Ladder Truck.
“All in all this truck cost the City of Williams Lake $1.2 million but that’s already been bought and paid for,” Ryll said, “we’ve been budgeting for this project since I think 2016 that really is bought cash in hand so it really doesn’t cost taxpayers any additional revenue.”
He added that this new truck puts the City of Williams Lake, the Fire Department, and Protection Services one more step ahead to make sure that the community is as safe as possible.
“We know that fires are an inevitability in any municipality and we feel pretty well equipped that we’re going to be able to handle pretty much anything thrown at us,” Ryll said.