Tuesday, July 15, 2003
Dear Chief Bowman:
Thanks for your telephone call. As I understand your question, you want to know what type of ladder truck a fire department should have to get the highest ISO score.
First, lets go to the basic foundational question. Does your city need a ladder truck at all? ISO says that if your city has 5 or more buildings that are more than 35 feet to the lowest point of fire department access to the roof, that you must have a ladder truck. If the answer to the first question is “YES”, and you have to have a ladder truck, then the next question follows.
To receive the highest points in an ISO evaluation for ladder service, the ladder unit must reach the roof of the tallest building in its service area, or be 100 feet long.
You must comply with one of those two requirements or your ISO score will be substantially reduced. When purchasing a ladder unit, I recommend to cities that they get, as near to the 100 feet as possible, since the life expectancy of a ladder truck is 20 years or more.
You really don’t know what will be built in the next 20 years, so you want to be prepared. Once you go over the 75-foot length, the difference in cost for a 100-foot ladder is nothing compared to the cost of having to replace the ladder with a longer one before it’s useful life has expired.
I should also mention that the service area of a ladder truck is limited to two and one-half driving miles from the station to which it is assigned. If the area covered by the ladder truck is bigger than the two and one-half mile driving radius, additional ladder companies are required. In each case the ladder company must have a ladder that meets the length rule as stated above. In more suburban areas of your city, where the buildings are not as tall, a shorter, less expensive ladder will suffice.
In areas of the city where there are not at least five buildings over 35 feet tall, the fire department should run a service company instead of a ladder company.
I hope this answers your question. If not, please call or email me.
Sincerely yours,
Ray Crouch, Sr.
Fire Department Management Consultant