Engineer Craig Warren tests the Sitka Fire Department’s new ladder truck in the Mt. Edgecumbe High School parking lot on Tuesday afternoon (11-22-11). The engine’s ladder can extend 75 feet, and throw 1500 gallons of water per minute from Sitka’s water system. The truck was purchased for $600,000, over $300,000 of which came from a single donor, Hixie Sund Arnoldt. Fire Chief Dave Miller, who was witnessing the truck in operation for the first time, says the department hasn’t had a ladder twenty years. Now, however, “We can water your lawn in a minute.”
Here is what the test looked like from downtown:
