Assistant Chief Ruy Lozano emailed the Houston Fire Department’s response to the situation:

"HFD Ladder 7 went into the shop at 8 a.m. this morning for what was believed to be a minor problem with a quick repair time and a manpower unit was put in its place. In this case, the small repair resulted in the discovery for the need of additional maintenance. Fortunately, there are several nearby stations equipped with ladder trucks and towers to service the impacted area. We appreciate FMD mechanics for their due diligence in assuring apparatuses are serviced thoroughly, ensuring the safety of our members."

Wilkes-Barre Fire Chief Jay Delaney and Deputy Chief Alan Klapat made their case to the authority board Tuesday why the city’s 2003 aerial ladder truck should be replaced, and why the authority should pay at least part of the $1.2 million cost for a new one.

Using a slide presentation, Delaney and Klapat provided data showing Truck 6 was out of service for repairs 25 days between June 21 and Oct. 13, five days in January and 29 days in 2016. The five largest repair bills for the truck over the last two years totaled more than $30,000.

And when the truck needs replacement parts, Delaney said, they tend to be expensive and hard to find because the truck manufacturer went out of business in 2014.

The two pieces of equipment purchased with the grant are a first for the lower half of Luzerne County, Valley Regional Deputy Fire Chief Kevin Tarapchak said.

Valley Regional applied for the Firefighters Support Foundation grant in the spring, he said, and by August was informed the money was approved.

A portion of the grant was used to buy a more agile tripod, a TerrAdaptor brand, to be used on rope rescues and in confined spaces. They bought the tripod, he said, because it can lean at an extreme angle over a steep cliff or guard rails — places Valley Regional finds itself rescuing people from at least six times a year.

Currently, the department has one tanker that runs on all first-alarm fires.

Once the new tanker is in service, most likely in January, it will immediately double the amount of water available at a rural fire in areas without fire hydrants.

“We are the only fire district in the area to only have one tanker,” Halmich said. “We purchased the tanker we have now in 2001.”

The chief added, although the frequency of fires requiring tanker shuttles had decreased over the past few years, they still have between six and eight calls per year that require extra water to be hauled in.