Somewhere Out There

Somewhere out there, is a twelve to fifteen year old LTI aerial platform that used to belong to the City of Riverside Fire Dept. (Calif.)

We bought it new around the turn of the century, used it for a couple of years, then traded it in for the current Truck 3. a tillered aerial. It wasn't that the platform was a bad truck, it was just that our program was kind of centered around tiller trucks, the maneuverability being a big asset for us.

It was our first ladder truck equipped with a pump, which added several more systems to an already system laden vehicle. It was a huge beast that had a floating rear tag axle which was supposed to allow it to swing out automatically when making a sharp (for it) turn. The problem was that the rear end would occasionally swap lanes under certain braking situations. It's size. lack of a tillerman and  that tag axle plus the vast amount of systems kept the unit in the shop a little more than we would have liked.

Someone ran the numbers on it, we were spending twice the money on maintenance for it than we were on the other ladder trucks in the fleet.We contacted La-France and worked out a trade-in. The new Truck 3 has been a delight and more importantly it better suits our needs and our culture.

I only worked on it a few times, I remember it being an immense wallowing vehicle, probably because I was used to Truck 1, a 100' tiller that handled very well. Frankly, I had forgotten about it until we bought that used truck from Cathedral City. Though the sale of the platform and the purchase of Cat City's Tiller were under different circumstances, I still find some irony in the latest transaction.

I recently asked the training chief what ever happened to the platform. He said that La France had sold it to a department back east somewhere and that he had heard nothing about it since.

I know where there is a photo of it, possibly a delivery photo. I'll have to snake it and scan it - then post it on the blog. I'll bet somebody will recognize it and the mystery will be solved.

Some department somewhere got a nice, slightly used elevated platform for a good price. I hope that it has performed well for them and that it has many good years left.

Thanks for reading,

Schmoe