City of Temecula invests in new $1.2M ladder truck
TEMECULA, Calif. — Earlier this week, the City of Temecula unveiled a brand new aerial ladder truck that is 57-feet in length, with a 101-foot ladder, to be housed at Station 73 in the business/industrial area of Temecula. The custom-built new truck replaced a 2003 ladder truck, which will be used on reserve and parked at Fire Station 95, the City’s newest Fire Station off of Butterfield Stage Road.
In 2016, voters approved Measure S, which provided the funds to purchase a new fire ladder truck. The custom built truck was constructed and budgeted over two fiscal years, and is approximately $1.2M.
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Temecula Mayor Maryann Edwards states, “Utilizing Measure S, the City is continuing its promise of keeping public safety as the top priority, including fire protection. Temecula is very pleased to welcome Ladder Truck 73 to our fleet, strengthening our emergency preparedness and enhancing response capabilities.”
“This new state-of-the-art ladder truck is a significant enhancement to the Department’s response capabilities and complies with modern, nationally recognized safety standards,” says Temecula Fire Chief John Crater, a 27- year veteran firefighter. “As the City is developing out, it is also expanding upwards with new taller buildings, including hotels and other structures, and this improved ladder truck will provide added capabilities needed to serve our community.”
Among some of the equipment on the new truck are at least 9 different sized ladders ranging in lengths up to 101 feet, with a camera at the tip of the ladder enabling firefighters at ground level to monitor what’s happening with a birds-eye view. Additionally, the truck is capable of performing confined space rescues with an underground air monitoring system, supplied air, and communication equipment.
The new ladder truck also houses swift water rescue apparatus including an inflatable boat and related equipment, jaws-of-life extrication tools and stabilization struts used for trench or other precarious rescues, and both low-angle and high-angle rescue equipment to perform technical rescues. The truck additionally provides enhanced abilities to provide life-saving work such as vertical ventilation, and gives firefighters the ability to stay out of the collapse-zone on commercial structure fires with an aerial master stream of water.
Mayor Pro-Tem Matt Rahn states, “We are making investments to proudly support the well-being and safety of our citizens and fire personnel including updated tools, fleet and apparatus that better enables our Fire Department and first responders to safely and effectively perform life-saving work, and also protect property.”
Since 2016, we’ve opened a new fire station, completed major renovations at another fire station, hired two Fire Captains, an Engineer, an Engineer Medic, two Firefighter II, two Firefighter II Medics, as well as additional Fire Systems Inspectors, replaced a fleet of Fire Inspection/Medic SUVs and trucks, and have now equipped our City with a larger, brand new Fire Ladder Truck,” states Aaron Adams, City Manager. “Measure S will continue to keep Temecula among the safest in the Nation.”
Submitted by City of Temecula
Contact the writer: [email protected]
Trevor Montgomery, 49, moved in 2017 to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source (RCNS) and Shasta County News Source (SCNS).
Additionally, he writes or has written for several other news organizations; including Riverside County-based newspapers Valley News, Valley Chronicle, Anza Valley Outlook, and Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle; the Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County; and Mountain Echo in Shasta County. He is also a regular contributor to Thin Blue Line TV and Law Enforcement News Network and has had his stories featured on news stations throughout the Southern California and North State regions.
Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back, and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)
During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations; including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center, and Lake Elsinore Station; along with other locations.
Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.
Trevor has been married for more than 30 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 18 grandchildren.