Pierce has received over 60 orders and counting for its Pierce® Ascendant™ 107-foot steel heavy-duty aerial ladder since its unveiling last year, making it the most popular new aerial apparatus in the company’s history. The Pierce Ascendant’s strength and performance in the single-rear-axle category was recently borne out through three phases of a fatigue test demonstrating the equivalent of 20 years of service life. 

APPLETON, WI—Pierce Manufacturing, Inc., an Oshkosh Corporation company, has received over 60 orders and counting for its Pierce® Ascendant™ 107-foot steel heavy-duty aerial ladder since its unveiling last year, making it the most popular new aerial apparatus in the company’s history. The Pierce Ascendant’s level of strength and performance in the single rear axle category was recently borne out through a successful completion of three phases of a fatigue test demonstrating the equivalent of 20 years of service life. 

“We knew the market would be strong for a 107-foot heavy-duty steel aerial available on a single-rear-axle configuration but, with over 60 orders on the books since its unveiling, the response has far surpassed our expectations,” says Jim Johnson, Oshkosh Corporation executive vice president and president of the Fire & Emergency segment and Pierce Manufacturing. “With substantial sales numbers and an unprecedented demand for product demonstrations, the Pierce Ascendant is quickly redefining the paradigm for performance and reach in the single rear axle category.”

“When our guys returned from seeing the Ascendant, they said it had some strong benefits that would meet our department’s needs—especially the extra reach and compact single-rear-axle configuration,” said Rodney Schmidt, chief of the High Level Fire Department in Alberta, Canada. “We have a large industrial plant with a ceiling height of just over 100 feet, and our current 50-foot aerial simply isn’t up to the task. The new Ascendant will make a huge difference in reach. Plus, it eliminates the need for special licensing of our volunteers to operate a tandem rear axle.”

Chad Smothers, chief of the Riverside (IA) Fire Department, sums up the Pierce Ascendant’s appeal this way: “Our department had been about to pull the trigger on a 75-foot aluminum ladder but, after seeing the Ascendant, we decided to switch over. The longer reach is the big advantage when you can stay on the same size chassis and carry 500 gallons of water and a 1,500-gpm pump. With the Ascendant’s extra 32 feet of reach on a single rear axle, we’ll have more flexibility to set up in a safer position,” he explains. 

The Ascendant aerial passed all NFPA structural and stability testing requirements prior to its launch and, since that time, Pierce’s R&D team successfully completed three phases of a fatigue test that demonstrate the equivalent of 20 years of service life. Phase one included lifting a 750-pound tip load weight—plus the equivalent of 100 pounds of equipment—