“It’s like the difference between a horse and buggy and a combustion engine,” Ishpeming Fire Chief Ed Anderson said during an interview on the platform 70 feet above the city. “This is dream come true for us.”

The side of the 2018 Sutphen firetruck is emblazoned with a customized tribute to the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame, the Ishpeming Hematites logo on the bucket capable of lifting 1,000 pounds and an American flag on the door of the platform.

The overall cost of the $820,000 truck, which will replace the department’s 2005 pumper truck as the newest in the fleet, was funded with .90 mills bond proposal approved by voters in August 2017, Ishpeming Fire Chief Ed Anderson said.

The truck, which is the only one of its kind in Marquette County, was built in Ohio and took about a year from design to build, he said, with amenities meant to increase efficiency and safety for a variety of situations.

A view of Pearl Street in Ishpeming taken from the platform of the city of Ishpeming’s new firetruck. Volunteer firefighters began training on the truck’s operation on Friday. Pending state and local licensing and registration, the truck should be in service within a few weeks, Fire Chief Ed Anderson said. (Journal photo by Lisa Bowers)

“We added roughly $15,000 in new equipment to the fire truck, such items were 1,000 feet of large diameter fire hose, hose adapters for mutual aid with surrounding community fire departments, multiple channel radio for communications, sliding equipment trays and tool mounting hardware to keep emergency tools easily accessible for our firefighters,” Anderson said.

Firefighters can push 1,500 gallons per minute through the twin turrets on the bucket, he said, and direct the flow of the water at the source of the fire, as well as lighting amenities that will illuminate the scene of a blaze.

“This fire truck will give our firefighters a safe elevated platform to work from, not only to protect homes and business that are often just a few feet from each other. Often times it’s tough to protect property from only ground level with water streams. The elevated platform with water flow capabilities of 1,500 gallons of water per minute, while not a magic bullet will have a profound effect on putting out large fires as well as residential fires,” Anderson said. “The rescue capability of our new aerial platform is nothing short of potentially life-saving. Reaching a victim of fire or other emergencies from an elevated site with a platform is something we’ve never had before. While it’s a very low-frequency event, it can and does happen even in small rural areas like ours.”

LED lights capable of putting out 20,000 lumens, will increase the safety and efficiency on the ground as well as in the air, Anderson said.

“They will illuminate a lot of scene area which will make it safer for guys fighting the fires, and safer for the general public at those scenes,” he said.

Outfitting the truck with state-of-the-art safety amenities while working within an $850,000 budget was a delicate balance, Ishpeming City Manger Mark Slown said.

“There was a team effort, on the part of the city, the city council and the fire department to determine what would be the best course of action. Obviously we always are balancing spending money versus capability, and need and benefit, because it is a very expensive purchase and we wanted to get the most value for our money,” Slown said. “And it turned out the the specifications for this truck including the aerial platform and some of the other firefighting capability on it, actually wasn’t that much more expensive than getting a new truck. So it was a wise move for everyone involved to get this particular truck, with these particular capabilities.”

Both Anderson and Slown said the truck was a good investment in the community.

“I’m confident this aerial platform fire truck will still be in service and serving our city with minimal service until 2049. Many of these Sutphen aerial platform ladders are and refurbished remounted on new fire truck bodies, saving taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Anderson said.

“This truck provides greater safety margins for everyone, and also helps the community because it will be a more sure place for businesses to invest. Because their investment is protected by the best fire services that are available, and that is good for the entire community as well.” Slown said.

Firefighters began training on the truck on Friday, but Anderson said it may be a couple of weeks until the truck is deployed for use.

Anderson had another message for city residents as well.

“I’d like to tell our city’s voters, thank you so much for your support over the years. Not only for the fire truck they supported in last years August vote by a wide margin but by their actions,” he said. “Many times when we’ve been out at the scene of a fire, residents often offer hot coffee to our firefighters, or we’ve had residents stop by and drop off homemade cookies for the guys. We certainly appreciated their support when we asked them to support our vision for a new fire truck.”