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—

By Carl J. Haddon

This is a question I recently started asking while visiting fire departments across the country. I’ve asked the question in some of the biggest city departments in the country, and I’ve asked it to small rural volunteer departments. After compiling and looking at the answers I received, the results might surprise you. What about you and your department? Are there a couple of pieces of equipment on your apparatus that are overlooked, rarely inspected, and—heaven forbid—not well maintained?

Before I go any further, don’t get the wrong idea about me asking this question. I’m no armchair quarterback or keyboard warrior. As I travel the country on training assignments, I see things and I listen to lots of different firefighter perspectives, which is all good. Many of the things I hear and see cause me to reflect back on my own firehouse, equipment, and fire apparatus. I was as guilty as the next guy when it comes to this question. My goal is to enlighten and broaden your field of view—maybe offer you an “ah ha” moment that you will share with other firefighters or fire departments that helps to make all of us better and keep us safe.

We all know the story (or should know the story) of caring for our irons. We clean and inspect our axes and our halligans regularly, as they are figuratively (and often literally) an extension of our arms. We do daily, weekly, and monthly inspections and preventive maintenance on our fire apparatus. We service, inspect, and decon our gas-powered saws and hydraulic rescue tools. We HOPEFULLY have learned the importance of inspecting, CLEANING and maintaining our turnout gear and other personal protective equipment: SCBA, rapid intervention gear, technical rescue equipment, boats, ropes, etc. We pay close attention to all of that equipment, right?

Ground Ladders
When was the last time you REALLY inspected and maintained your ground ladders? During a recent ground ladder class in the southern part of the country, we discovered that a couple of the department’s ground extension and roof ladders were not functioning properly. The firefighters were having a hard time with raises as the flies were sticking badly, and halyards struggled. Their roof ladder hooks did not want to swing and lock into position. We quietly took the troubled ladders out of service and into the bay to see what was wrong. What we found was nothing you’d likely imagine. The departments in the area in which we were teaching are big into participating in local parades. Their rigs are always clean and spit polished as the firefighters and officers take great pride in their trucks and their departments.

As we started figuring the problems with the ladders, we discovered melted (and rehardened) Tootsie Rolls and wrapped taffy-like candy welded inside the tracks of the ladder beams and in the rope grooves of the halyard wheels! I know what some of you must be thinking, and I know that those of you who participate in parades know EXACTLY how this happens. For those who don’t, at least in rural America, fire trucks in parades are known for distributing huge amounts of candy (out of, or off of) the apparatus as it travels down the parade route. Local kids can’t wait for the fire trucks, because they know they’re like a rolling free candy stores. As the candy is th