The Skagway Fire Department has been offered a new truck.
Fire Chief Emily Rauscher spoke with KHNS’s about the surprising gift.
“Back in November, Unalaska fire department had posted that they had a 1997 Pierce aerial that they were going to offer up for donation to a municipality that could demonstrate the need for that type of apparatus. So I put in a request of interest, and I got word a few days ago that Skagway was selected for the donation of this aerial truck. And so now what we are doing is we are working out logistics with getting mechanics and pumper operators to go to Unalaska and to do all the testing and look at the guts of the truck as well before we ship it or barge it over from Unalaska to Skagway.”
If the truck is deemed mechanically sound, the Skagway Fire Department will add it to their fleet. The truck carries a large ladder that Chief Rauscher says will increase the department’s fire fighting ability.
“This is literally a ladder on a truck, and there is an operator that extends the ladder to all the areas that we need. So it needs less personnel to set up the ladder, it will reach the areas that we can’t currently reach right now, and so it makes all operations safer, and for us, it will allow operations to happen that currently cannot happen, because we’ve never had a ladder truck.”
The Unalaska Fire Chief declined to comment for this story, as the agreement has not yet been finalized. For the same reason, it is not yet certain if and when the truck will make it to Skagway.
