The city’s “newest” ladder truck is already down for the count, and there’s no telling at this point for how long, according to fire chief Peter McMichael.
The truck in question is the 1994 Simon Duplex LTI ladder truck apparatus that was purchased from Westerly for $25,750 almost exactly two months ago in May. At the time of its purchase by Warwick, the truck had just 18,811 miles on it despite being 25 years old, and was heralded by city councilmen and Mayor Joseph Solomon (who helped barter the negotiation for the truck) as a savvy, cost-effective stop-gap measure to become the replacement for Ladder 1 – a 1998 truck stationed at the department’s headquarters in Apponaug – which faced upwards of $125,000 in repairs to get back onto the road. A similar ladder truck purchased new would have cost the city between $850,000 and $1 million – as was discussed at the time of the truck’s purchase. McMichael confirmed on Tuesday that the 1994 truck was being looked at by mechanics to assess why it was “bogging down” while running, but couldn’t attribute it to something other than “a mechanical issue” at this point in time.