The fifth new Spartan/Crimson 103′ rear mount aerial in Chicago will be assigned to Truck 59. That makes Truck Companies 9, 31, 51, 56, & 59 the recipients of the five aerials that have been delivered to date. Each of these companies currently runs with a 1996 Seagrave except Truck 51, which has a 1995 Seagrave, the oldest ladder in front line service in Chicago. After these new rigs go into service, there will be two remaining 1996 Seagrave trucks that are assigned to Trucks 61 and 62.

As a side note, there are three 1996 HME 1871/Simon-LTI 100′ tower ladders currently assigned to Tower 21, Tower 37, and Tower 39. Due to an accident with their 2002 Pierce Dash Tower Ladder, Tower 34 is running again with their 1988 E-ONE Hurricane 95′ tower ladder.

Chicago Truck 59 and Truck 31 at the Quinn Fire Academy yesterday. All three shifts of the five companies receiving the new Spartan/Crimson aerials are rotating through the academy to receive training on the new apparatus before getting the rigs. Steve Redick photo

The rear of Truck 31 shows that all ground ladder storage is within the center of the truck. A first for Chicago is full compartmentation on both sides of the rigs. Steve Redick photo

Tags: Chicago Fire Department, Chicago Towe 39, Chicago Tower 21, Chicago Tower 34, Chicago Tower 37, Chicago Truck 31, Chicago Truck 51, Chicago Truck 56, Chicago Truck 59. Chicago Truck 9, Crimson, Dash, E-ONE, Gladiator, HME 1871, Hurricane, Pierce, Simon-LTI, Spartan, Steve Redick, tower ladder