When the Omaha Fire Department’s Truck 53 returns to service Friday, it will help improve the safety of Omaha residents, fire union president Steve LeClair said Wednesday.
Truck 53, a ladder truck, was one of four Fire Department vehicles taken out of service in 2011 because of budget cuts. Its return increases the number of in-service ladder trucks from eight to nine.
"The return of Truck 53 is a step in the right direction, but I don't think it's a final step we should take," LeClair said at press conference outside Station 53 at 80th and Dodge Streets. "There are other pieces of equipment that I think are needed just as badly as 53."
The truck is being returned to service because of the recent successful contract negotiations between firefighters and the City of Omaha, said Mayor Jean Stothert, interim Fire Chief Dan Olsen and LeClair, the president of the Omaha Professional Firefighters Association.
Returning the ladder truck to service, Stothert said, means improved response times in an important area that includes two hospitals, the Crossroads Mall and "the always-busy Dodge Street corridor." Stothert credited sound budgeting decisions by fire department officials -- resulting in a $1 million surplus for 2015 -- with making the truck's return to service possible.