Jan 15, 2009 12:07 pm US/Eastern
4 More BFD Trucks Inspected, 1 Pulled From Service
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
From Monday through Wednesday, nine fire trucks have been inspected.
The first one, Ladder 14, flunked, but it was fixed in a day and back in service the next day.
Today, at least four vehicles are getting checked out, two in Allston and two with a new vendor in Everett. One of those is Ladder 6, which was pulled out of service Wednesday night.
They took Ladder 23 from Grove Hall neighborhood of Dorchester to replace Ladder 6, which is in Peabody Square in Dorchester. Boston Firefighters are hopeful one of the reserve ladder trucks they have will be able to be inspected and replace Ladder 6 by tonight.
Curiosity: Why are BFD ladder trucks responding to medical calls?
Boston Fire Spokesman Steve MacDonald says it will take several weeks to inspect the entire fleet. "Some of them need some repairs, and sometimes it's just in and out."
There are 57 vehicles in all that work on the front line, as well as additional older trucks used as reserves.
Ladder 14 is the only ladder that flunked the test. It was the first one tested. It had to be taken out of service, and repaired. The other ones had minor adjustments that didn't require them to be taken out of service.
How difficult is this juggling process to keep every fire house staffed?
MacDonald says, "It's a constant juggle. It's not just for maintenance, we do it every day of the week. We do that when we have fires and training. There is constant movements of covering different companies."
Until this week, the Boston Fire Dept. had been doing inspections on an as needed basis. There was not a preventive maintenance program for the fire trucks. When the firefighters had a problem, they would bring it to the attention to it fixed.
Now the commissioner has said he's going to have an internal review on the entire process.
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