Allentown firefighters are reporting that, once again, Pennsylvania's third largest city has no ladder trucks.Once again, they are using a pick-up truck, and have placed neighboring departments on stand-by.
A Bethlehem firefighter was at last night's meeting concerning a 78' LNG facility,and during a break,I asked him how many ladder trucks Bethlehem has. Three. All operational.
29 comments:
Yawn!! You are an obsessive compulsive stalker. Pawlowski should have you assessed. Since Bethlehem has three and Allentown is right next door, why not a mutual aid arrangement. Or, why does Bethlehem have three ladder trucks???
How is all of this complaining going to solve the problem ?
It creates awareness the morning call does not go against Ed on these type of things.
Lowe's in Allentown has ladders on sale for the holiday weekend. Not perfect, but it's an option.
Wow. 2:51. Have you not realized by now with all of your love letter posts in support of the Mayor that you are guilty of the same thing you accuse Bernie of. Your psychotic sycophant love for the Mayor is as delusional as the Mayor's belief that he is not guilty. Please do us all a favor get help. Do you have posters of him in your room?
2:51am first of all time is of the essence and til bedlum trucks would make to the area with all the assimilated traffic congestion said structure would be ashes! Not to come from the left or right this id all allentowns d dysfunctional designs engineered for certian areas that are developmentally designated for demolition, one way or the other. The party favor carry out the acts and the public sector makes sure the engineering of the demise takes place even if it is one structure at a time!
Just do an goggle arial view of maps and just about any simpilton could see the same designations. When it is a single family home now a blighted lot unkept by the city this innheriant blight takes over the rest of the block by there engineered designs for future development! For those in the administration that road the short bus to Moody's bible college with little drummer boy and church on the run, most are on to there circus carnival trickery. The small turn out this time around has nothing to do with the turn out come November and I personally think the party fovorZ are in for a suprize before than? Not to be left or right for either PAC.
This might be a good time to innovate.
Don't get me wrong, Allentown needs a full compliment of traditional firefighting equipment.
But, in the mean time, has anyone considered a large-scale drone?
Seriously, there are manufacturers who have introduced one and two passenger drone-like aircraft that, properly configured, could lift a trapped individual from an upper story window and deliver them safely to the ground.
I'm assuming they'd have to be less expensive than a ladder truck, and I'd bet there would be some state or federal grants out there to fund such innovation in public safety.
I don't know anyone at the Allentown Fire Department, but, if someone here does, it might be worth a mention...
This is an interesting thought, but it would do nothing to save a small child, a disabled person, or someone who is overcome by smoke inhalation.
Gee, maybe Bedlum has three newer ladder trucks thanks to their gold mine Sands casino money? Otherwise they would also use pickup trucks with extension ladders from Lowe's...
Jeff Anthoney, thats the best idea you've had since VillasVictimsUnited!
Bernie is obsessed with anything negative Pawlowski. He has no life. Just this whiny blog. Signed, anonymous coward.
Those that are critical of Bernie's reporting of the current status of Allentown's firefighting equipment: 1) where do they live? 1.A) Could they or anyone they know be affected by a fire which is served by the company's which are down their ladder trucks? 2) If a fire occurred at their residence, and the fire company didn't have the equipment, would they still be attempting to point their fingers at Bernie rather than attempt to solve the problem of lack of equipment?
@7:51
Are you really clueless as it appears? Ladder trucks are primarily used to attack fires from above and not rescue people. I actually had to laugh out loud at your comment. No wonder the city is in the shape it is because of citizens like you.
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/05/fire_chief_john_pond_union_hea.html
Three people died when an aerial ladder truck failed and the ladder could not be extended at an apartment building fire in Massachusetts. Firefighters had to try to use hand held ladders for the rescues.
@8.01
Good point. A two person version (or even a single seater with enough list for two people) could ferry a harnessed firefighter to the window to retrieve the child/disabled/elderly person. I'd think that any solution would involve a harness tethered to the drone-like vehicle.
Of course, come to think about it, there are a lot of well priced choppers out there in the used market, but I wonder whether they'd be maneuverable enough for such close order work.
@9.46
I think you've addressed the idea that, while we certainly need both, the lifesaving aspect of the ladder truck is the more important of its dual firefighting / lifesaving functions. So I'm not saying we *shouldn't* have ladder trucks, I'm just wonder what we could do today or in the very near term to mitigate the hole in AFD's capability.
@8.24
I don't want to unfairly grab too much credit for B V V U. There are many people throughout the community (especially, of course, victims and their loved ones) who have given very generously of their time, talent, and money to deploy it.
So Bernie, who is going to fix this? The criminal or the slum landlord ?
Drones a really bad idea. (1) Not even Medivac (or any other helicopter for that matter) will fly under windy conditions or extreme weather. Fires don't wait for good flying conditions. (2) If you want to fan the flames or scatter flaming embers all over the place drone's would be the best way to do it. (3) Trees, wires and a whole host of other obstacles make them useless at almost all the fire scenes. (4) I'm certain in the event of equipment failure fire fighters much prefer ladder failure then being suspended 40 or 50 feet in the air over a fire. (5) Then there's the unpredictable superheated updrafts coming from the fire itself. (5) Drones of this capability or used helicopters cost far more to buy, maintain and for trained licensed personnel to fly them then ladder trucks.
Drones? WTF?? What genius even proposed such an idea?
Public safety is a hot button issue. Maybe there should be an undercover investigation into why all these things seem to be happening right now. Maybe there is something going on to push this agenda.
@1:40
No one, especially me, is arguing that we *shouldn't* have ladder trucks; I'm simply suggesting something that may give us a bit more capability in the short term and may augment our capability down the road. To your points:
1) That's why we need ladder trucks *too*.
2) & 3) The idea, as when using helicopters in tall building rescues, is to get to altitude *away* from the fire, hover well over it (so as not to create the effects you describe)
4) Firefighting is, alas, a dangerous profession, but it would seem the risk of equipment failure would be less than that of walking into a burning building -- though not at all an insignificant risk
5) See 2) and 3)
5) Again, as I said before, this is a stopgap measure than may stand a chance of state and federal funding because of it timeliness and novelty. It seems more likely to me than getting funding by saying, "Please give us a ladder truck because we screwed-up our municipal finances."
Finally, my point is: better than nothing now and perhaps useful under certain circumstances down the pike...
Easton is in the same boat. Their only ladder truck has been down for at least the past two weeks. The aerial truck crew responds to fire calls in a pick up truck.They also depend on mutual aid for an aerial. Easton's aerial truck was built by the same company that built Allentown's pieces of junk.Lots of down time.
Tony Jeffery said,
Drones and artificial intelligence could be the answer to ending fire as we know them.
Easton down to "0" also - AGAIN !
Allentown and Bethlehem actually have the same number - both have two long aerial ladder trucks and one pumper with a shorter aerial ladder. The difference is that one of Bethlehem's trucks is brand new, and Bethlehem didn't buy Kovatch/KMC trucks that keep breaking down across the country.
http://wbtw.com/2017/01/19/mechanical-issues-force-2m-worth-of-hcfr-fire-trucks-off-the-street/
http://wbtw.com/2015/09/03/concerns-with-8-million-fire-truck-investment-in-horry-county/
http://wjbf.com/2015/06/17/after-spending-millions-city-gets-burned-by-new-fire-rigs/
Bangor FD is in dire need of an ariel ladder/tower truck up grade. Current boro government types will not assist in a partnered purchase..crying poverty. Privatizing sewer system will bring millions in working capitol needed to help make it happen. Boro council president and boro manager dragging their feet seeking out the facts of such a sale for their own personal reasons..one to retain power and the other to protect additional salary increase for admin. sewer system.
Easton's piece of junk is also a KME. One time Philadelphia was so pissed off about a tower they bought off of KME that they towed it back to the KME factory on a Sunday and left it in the salary parking lot. It should be noted that KME was a family-run business and last year was bought out by a large corporation that also owns two other fire truck builders so maybe things will improve.
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