GREENWOOD, S.C. — Greenwood firefighters are logging driver training hours on the city’s new $1.89 million tiller ladder truck, and this week that practice brought crews to the area around the Ascend Performance Materials plant, where public works crews also patched potholes so the training could continue.
The activity drew questions on social media about why city workers were at the industrial site. City spokeswoman Stephanie Withey explained that the work was tied to fire department training and the parking lot repairs that followed.
A tiller truck takes two people to drive. One firefighter handles the front cab while a second sits at the rear and steers the back wheels independently, which lets the long ladder truck swing through narrow streets and tight spaces.
The new apparatus, known as Ladder 4, will operate out of Fire Station 1, located at 909 S. Main St. County officials have said its design lets it reach every street inside the city limits. It replaces a 2008 ladder that will stay on as a reserve unit, and it does the jobs that used to take two older vehicles, carrying its own pump and water tank along with rescue gear and hazardous materials equipment.
Fire officials first planned to buy a more conventional platform truck, then got approval to switch to the tiller design without raising the amount set aside for it.
Money for the truck came from the 2016 Capital Project Sales Tax that Greenwood County voters approved, and the city expects it to stay in service for about 20 years. Before it joins the regular emergency rotation, firefighters are working through an extensive training program that covers driving by day and at night along with months of supervised practice.
