Letters to the Editor -
Dear Editor:
Do we need to spend a million dollars of taxpayers' money on another ladder truck? About 30 years ago, we had a small fire in the top story of the Gander Hotel, which I believe is the tallest building in Gander. It was pointed out at that time that we did not have a ladder truck capable of reaching that height. The result was the Town bought a very expensive ladder truck.
In the last 30 years I have seen that ladder truck used to change light bulbs in traffic lights, and I have seen it in a lot of parades. I've seen it used to fight fires on one - and two-story buildings. I've seen it used on a one-story bungalow with a chimney fire. Instead of using a ladder, the firemen used the ladder truck so they could walk to the chimney.
I presume there is an hour meter on the truck. How many hours are on the engine? How many hours has the truck been used on major fires, not counting chimney fires? Has there been a log book kept on when, where and why the truck was used? If not, why not?
Just what is wrong with the ladder truck the Town now owns? What is wrong that can't be fixed? Who is responsible for the maintenance and repair of the fire equipment? Do they have all the maintenance manuals? Have they been sent on any training exercises on the maintenance of fire equipment?
There are businesses all across Canada that specialize in the repair of fire fighting equipment. Have any of those business been consulted as to what it would cost for an inspection and what the repairs might cost?
The National Fire Protection Agency's recommendation may have some merit when they are talking about places like Toronto, MontrÉal, Vancouver and other big cities where these trucks are used every week or every day, but for a one-horse town like Gander, where we haven't had a fire in a high rise building in thirty years, it hardly holds water.
For a town like Gander that owes millions of dollars - where a large chunk of our Tax dollars is spent every year paying the interest on that loan - to pay a million dollars for a ladder truck that we don't need is ridiculous. They should be concentrating on lowering the debt. They should not expect the federal and provincial governments to pay a large portion of the cost of a ladder truck for Gander when there are so many small towns in Newfoundland and Labrador that have no fire trucks at all.
Fred F. Smeaton
Gander
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