With this installment in "The Apparatus Architect" series we begin our discussion on the design and use of aerial ladder units. These types of apparatus can represent one of the largest financial investments that a fire department can make, and here the adage "An educated consumer is our best customer" is certainly appropriate. Short-term decisions that will be made by the department will have a long-term impact not only on the type of aerial ladder equipment that is acquired, but on how the operational characteristics of the ladder device will impact fireground operations for the truck company.

First, a little history regarding power-operated aerial ladder apparatus is appropriate. The first hydraulic, all-metal aerial ladder truck was a three-section, 100-foot, tractor-drawn aerial produced by Peter Pirsch for the Melrose, MA, Fire Department in 1935. Prior to this date, most aerial ladder units were constructed of laminated wood sections consisting of a base section with a single fly section and were raised by a mechanical spring-loaded device. Following this design built by Peter Pirsch, other prominent builders of the day - Seagrave, American La France and Maxim - introduced their own hydraulic-powered steel aerial ladders ranging in length from 65 feet to 85 feet.

Photo by Tom W. Shand This Seagrave ladder from Freeland, PA, carries an assortment of truck company tools, saws and 145 feet of ground ladders. Ladder 57 is equipped to meet the many tasks that are assigned to ladder companies on the fireground. Careful planning in the design phase is critical to making sure that new apparatus will meet the needs of the department.

This ladder design, however, was slow to gain acceptance with major fire departments such as Boston, Chicago and the FDNY. New York placed its first hydraulic-powered aerial ladder in service in 1948, when it took delivery of a Seagrave 85-foot tractor-drawn aerial and was assigned to Ladder Company 110. FDNY continued to specify wooden aerial ladders through 1955, when it accepted delivery of 25 FWD 75-foot tractor-drawn aerials. Gradually, after this point in time, FDNY and other major fire departments slowly began to accept the metal aerial device, although the last wooden aerial ladder was not officially retired from the FDNY fleet until June 1973, some 38 years after Peter Pirsch had built its first powered ladder truck.