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1/17/2017 , WHEN SHOULD YOU PURCHASE AN AERIAL LADDER?- Fire Engineering A review of existing records can tell you how many people in your community respond during the various time periods. In almost every one of my consulting assignments over the past 15 years, there has been a diminished staffing level during the 0700-1700 hours time frame. This condition is especially prevalent in small fire departments. If you do not have the people, you cannot raise the ground ladders. 3. If the terrain and topography in a community rule out using ground ladders, you must consider aerial devices. Topographical and landscaping oddities may prevent the firefighters from approaching from the two-story side of two-story structures, such as townhouses, to raise ground ladders. In addition, Queen Anne (Victorian) homes --although not common in every U.S. community --do not provide good access for roof operations. In these situations, an aerial device would be needed to make the necessary rescues or accomplish ventilation operations. William E. Clark, in both editions of Firefighting Principles and Practices (Fire Engineering Books), refers to such problems of access, terrain, and topography. If you cannot reach the roofs and upper floor windows by means of a ground ladder, you must opt for the aerial. OTHER OPTIONS The citizens expect you to be able to reach them in times of emergency --regardless of structure height or other access difficulties. If your community needs an aerial device but has an insufficient workload to justify the expense of purchasing one or cannot afford to buy one, consider a mutual -aid or regional purchase agreement (all parties in need of the aerial device share in the cost and one department serves as the host agency). When contracting with another department, be sure to work out agreement details before the need for the device arises and develop a written contract establishing procedures for requesting and providing aid and the equipment/services (or money) that will be offered in return for use of the aerial. By sharing an aerial device with neighboring departments under an automatic -aid agreement, a fire department can lower its ISO rating (and consequently insurance rates). Under the automatic -aid agreement, a department arranges in advance to have another department's assets (equipment, personnel, or both) automatically respond to a call in the contacting department's territory; no request must be made at the time of the emergency (as must be done in a mutual -aid arrangement). Fire departments can receive up to 90 percent of the full credit (points) they would have received under the ISO Fire Suppression Rating Schedule if they owned the equipment. The number of credits that can be earned depends on the alarm receipt/dispatch, fireground communications, and joint -training arrangements between the aiding and aided departments. (See "Fire Suppression Rating Schedule,"by Dale Perry, Fire Engineering, June 1995, page 10.) file:///C:/Users/H arl an/Dropbox/My%20documents/Centennial%20Fire/WHEN %20SHOU LD%20YOU %20PU RCHASE%20AN %20AERIAL%20LAD D ER_%2... 4/5 77