By Maggie Beamguard
The cab of a fire truck looks as complicated to operate as the console of an Airbus. Buttons, toggles, computer screens, illuminated panels, and gauges all have their own role in getting where it needs to go. If you don’t know what you are doing, you are never going to make it out of the bay. And that is just the gadgets inside.
“Push that one button up there at the end,” instructs Seven Lakes Fire Rescue Chief David Alston. “No, that other one.” The red flashing lights turn on at the press of the fingertips of a reporter more comfortable click-clacking away at a keyboard than operating heavy machinery.
Alston shows off the interior of the newest addition to the department with the pride of a new parent. Tower Ladder 63, affectionately called “The Queen,” is the first aerial device for the department.
It is an appropriate name given the nickname of the place where the fleet lives — The Hornet’s Nest. The new truck will eventually be wrapped in the department’s distinctive yellow and black colors. First, it will receive decals bearing the department’s identifying insignia.
The 2001 Pierce Dash model is a 100-foot aerial platform known as a tower ladder with a 300-gallon on-board tank and a 2,000 gallons-per-minute pump.
Residents got a first look at the truck at the department’s annual Community Appreciation event on Sept. 4. A community meeting on Oct. 17 and an Open House on Oct. 31 offered additional opportunities to explore the truck’s equipment and controls and see its aerial platform and bucket up close.
Department members have been training on every aspect of The Queen’s capabilities since its arrival from Ohio on a heavy-haul rig with the combined gross transport weighing approximately 140,000 pounds at the end of August. If training and preparation go as planned, she is expected to enter service early 2027.
Operating a vehicle of this size and complexity requires specialized training. In a Sept. 30 Facebook post, the department shared photos of crews practicing how to position the truck and deploy the ladder at a training event.
Steep roof angles, common in the SLFR district, can make firefighting more difficult and dangerous, the department noted. The aerial platform can help firefighters reach elevated areas and work from the safety of the bucket, including when roof ventilation is needed.
Using traditional ground ladders to reach roofs can increase the risk of injury and require additional time to get in place. This aerial platform can help crews perform those operations more safely and expeditiously. The platform also offers high-angle anchor points for technical rescue operations, expanding the truck’s potential uses beyond fighting fires.
Department members explained how the truck’s stabilizing outriggers extend to support it and how crews check that the vehicle is level before raising the platform. Drivers must also learn to account for the truck’s size and turning radius when maneuvering on the road.
Division Chief Rescue/EMT Eddie Thomas, who has served with the department for nearly 50 years, is already at home behind the big wheel of The Queen. With a 500-horsepower engine, it has plenty of pick-up, he acknowledged.
Thomas said it’s important for motorists to do their part in emergency situations. “When drivers see emergency lights or hear sirens,” he said, “they should slow down and move over when it is safe to do so.” Distracted drivers who fail to yield can make it more difficult for firefighters and other emergency personnel to reach an incident safely.
A new aerial truck from the same manufacturer can cost an estimated $1.5 to $2.8 million according to Alston. By purchasing a tower ladder with a previous life, the SLF&R will pay just $125,000. The funds for it come from the department’s annual contribution mailing which invites donations. The mailing goes out near the end of October to all Seven Lakes residents.
Alston said community support makes this equipment like The Queen possible. Once in service, the truck will give the department greater resources when responding to emergencies.
Contact Maggie Beamguard at maggie@thepilot.com.
