Question about California

[hwoods]

And.........

In my County we have 23 Aerial Apparatus............

Five Tractor Drawn Ladders, all Volunteer owned.

Seven Tower Ladders, 6 Volunteer Owned, 1 County Owned

Ten Rear Mount Ladders, 4 Volunteer Owned, 6 County Owned

One Quint, County Owned


By Comparision, look at 1961's Numbers

One Tractor Drawn Ladder

One Midship Mount Ladder

Six Midship Mount Quints

All Apparatus was Volunteer Owned

All Stations that currently have Ladders existed in 1961 except 2

All Stations that existed in 1961 are still operating, except 1, with two others merged into one

Seven Stations that operated Aerial Apparatus at one time no longer do so

There were Two Snorkel Apparatus in the 60s-70s, both are (thankfully) long gone

[sfd1992]

It's not strictly a California thing. My dept has 5 aerial apparatus, 4 sticks, 1 tower. Most Depts in the NW have more straight stick aerials than tower ladders.

Even on the East Coast, with the exception of the FDNY, I would venture that sticks outnumber tower ladders by a WIDE margin in most places.

[hwoods]

Hmmm..........

Could it be (Gasp!!) that the East Coast is actually ahead of them in something???..............

[firepundit]

I am going tio ask that this be civil I am asking a legitimate question. Does anyone know why for the most part Los Angeles and Surrounding Cities and Counties do not use Tower ladders or Ladder Towers? I just do not understand why this is .

Don't have a clue about how they operate now. It always seemed like they just pulled the same set of specs they used for ten or fifteen years, released bids, and bought what ever they wanted. It was kind of a joke. Maybe the builder they preferred, at the time, would rather build ladders.

But, things change. Admittedly, I have had no interaction, directly or indirectly, with them in many years. It was one of those lessons learned.

An entirely different possibility would be the reality of a budget encountering how ISO scores points. Sometimes departments have to make decisions based on other criteria than what they would love to have. Two tricked out towers or four to five functional ladders? Not everybody can buy pie in the sky when someone else is paying for your dreams. For sure, spreading four ladders around would not only help with ISO but would add manpower as opposed to two towers. If that doesn't sound like a good tradeoff for a Chief, I don't know what does.

Of course, there are a ton of other possibilities.

I would hope it either the second possibility I posted or something along those lines.

[J.Beck]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbu1HVFELog

watch.

I don't get it.

San Francisco is a far cry from Los Angeles and it's suburbs.

[LaFireEducator]

It was in there between "narrow streets, high-power lines"

For one day, just one day, don't talk. Let intelligence flourish for a day.

Point A. It was about SF not the LA area.

Point B. The poster was asking about tower ladders and platforms v. straight ladders in the LA area, not wooden ground ladders. While your clip was interesting, and did discuss the merits of wood v. aluminuim ladders, it did nothing to answer to OPs question regarding the use of ladders v. platforms.

[fire49]

Because the tillerman picks up all the girls as they drive by the beach, on those sunny days

[tree68]

It was in there between "narrow streets, high-power lines"

The video was about SF. OP asked about LA.

The answer may lie in CA's stringent vehicle weight limits, which might well render a tower too heavy to drive down the road. I recall reading some time back (possibly about the time the newer limits were adopted) about apparatus that could be driven to a fire legally (emergency services exemption) but would have to be towed back...

[tajm611]

It was in there between "narrow streets, high-power lines"

For one day, just one day, don't talk. Let intelligence flourish for a day.

[LaFireEducator]

Very interesting piece.

Though I don't know if it answers the OPs question.

[tajm611]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbu1HVFELog

watch.

[LaFireEducator]

I am going tio ask that this be civil I am asking a legitimate question. Does anyone know why for the most part Los Angeles and Surrounding Cities and Counties do not use Tower ladders or Ladder Towers? I just do not understand why this is .

They probably have found that ladders are simply more effective for their operations.

[no1special]

I am going tio ask that this be civil I am asking a legitimate question. Does anyone know why for the most part Los Angeles and Surrounding Cities and Counties do not use Tower ladders or Ladder Towers? I just do not understand why this is .