Richmond County Coroner Mark Bowen said Collins, of Clark Road, hit the rear of the fire truck and died instantly. He was pronounced dead at 2:10 p.m.

Collins was driving a Ford Escape and had to be extricated from the vehicle. Emergency equipment on the fire truck was flashing, Bowen confirmed.

Building Commissioner Tony Biondillo said that since Seitz's bid was under budget, the renovation will include several additional items listed as alternates in the bid documents. The alternates include fiberglass windows, millwork, furniture, sidewalk and brick repairs and LED lights. Seitz will also paint the station's bay rooms.

The main work will include redesigning restrooms to make accommodations for women firefighters, although the city now employs only men firefighters; upgrading the heating, ventilating and air-conditioning system and adding insulation; and replacing the roof. The project will also include buying a new backup generator and replacing a light pole and fixture at the station's front entrance.

The 137-foot ladder is reported to be the tallest aerial in service in North America, but more importantly, for the needs of the ZFD, it reaches 126 feet to the side. Because many Zionsville homes are set back more than 60 feet from the curb additional length is needed for the combination of vertical and horizontal reach so that firefighters can get to roofs to more effectively fight fires.

The ladder is mounted at the end of the truck instead of the middle of the body, where most ladders are located, allowing a 360-degree reach and better maneuverability. The quint will replace a 95-foot ladder truck that has been retired due to age.

The truck has a 500-gallon tank, storage for EMS and tools for light extrication, should someone become trapped at an auto accident.

It took two years to complete, starting with a ZFD committee specifying the ergonomics and organization of the truck and other details such as green lights up the ladder, multiple Zionsville logos, and remembrances of firefighter-paramedic Cody Richardson, who died in 2013.

LARK Toys out of Kellogg, which specializes in handmade wood toys, recently named their firetruck toy after Corcoran.

The decision came after a friendship established by Miranda Gray-Burlingame, owner of Lark, and her husband, Scott, and parents Kathy and Ron Gray, with Corcoran’s brother while they worked at Bluffview Montessori School in Winona, Corcoran said.

So when it came time to name their firetruck toy, LARK Toys had the perfect answer.

Naming their toys after real and local people is not new for LARK . According to Kathy, the family-owned wood toy business will often name their toys after those who have inspired them.

The new $969,000 ladder truck, designated Tower 2, was sprinkled with blessed water by the Rev. Father Andrew Georganas of the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Demetrios in Elmhurst, then hosed down and given a ceremonial scrubbing in what interim Fire Chief Bill Anaszewicz calls a "wet down" ceremony.

Both the wet down and the push back are vestiges of long-ago days of fire equipment pulled by horses and kept in simple barns, according to Anaszewicz.

A traditional welcome for a technologically advanced piece of firefighting equipment, a truck capable of extending the basket at the end of its ladder structure 95 feet, equipment well suited to both firefighting and rescue, given the growing number of tall buildings in town.

Anaszewicz was part of the apparatus committee whose members worked with Florida-based manufacturer E-One on the new truck, which took nine months to build. Others on the committee included Lt. Mark Millett, firefighter Bill Oeffling, city fleet manager Chanel Caron, assistant fleet manager Butch Wanderer and Jim Hassler of city fleet maintenance.