Campus Safety Enhanced with New Fire Ladder Truck

UConn Today


The UConn Fire Department’s ability to handle difficult fires, emergencies in high places, and other complex rescue calls is now being greatly enhanced with the addition of a modern ladder truck to its firefighting apparatus.
The new Tower 122 truck was delivered to the University this spring, and went into service July 7 after the necessary practice runs were completed and firefighters were trained in its use. The new vehicle replaces the department’s 1994 truck, which had outlived its 20-year service life and was increasingly out of service in need of costly repairs.
“This purchase was planned out very thoughtfully to meet the needs of the University for another 20 years,” UConn Fire Chief Greg Priest says of the new Rosenbauer truck, which can carry 300 gallons of water in its on-board tank and, when attached to a hydrant, can pump 1,500 gallons per minute.

The purchase comes after a three-year planning process that started with a committee of people from the fire department, motor pool, and elsewhere, who mapped out the attributes a new truck would need to best serve the campus.
UConn Fire Capt. Mitchell Dlubac, an 18-year veteran of the department, headed the committee as it painstakingly reviewed everything from the ideal on-board generator power to the sizes and lengths of the hoses, the aerial’s maximum reach and angles, and other attributes.
Rosenbauer was selected through a competitive bidding process, making UConn one of a growing number of East Coast fire departments to add equipment from that company, which has been producing fire apparatus in Europe for more than a century. The vehicle was built and equipped entirely in the U.S., and replaces the Pierce that had been in service at Storrs since 1994.
Four additional feet might not sound like much, but it could get you to the next window. — Fire Chief Greg Priest
With a 104-foot height when ...

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