Members of the WGFC Ladder Truck Committee spent a couple days at the Pierce Manufacturing plant in Appleton, Wisconsin where a new Ladder Truck will be built during the next few months. This trip is an important one that allows the committee to review the details of the vehicle to make sure everything we are expecting will be there when the vehicle is completed next spring.

In the beginning of 2016 the membership of the West Grove Fire Company authorized the purchase of a new Ladder Truck to replace the current 1992 Ladder truck in its fleet. The new truck, expected to be delivered in the spring of 2017 will cost approximately $1.1 million. Through the leadership in the fire company and great support from the municipalities the fire company serves, the expense of this vehicle has been planned for many years. The truck committee comprised of J. Gattorno; M. Wood; L. Hicks; T. Shannon; and T. Glass started working on the project in early 2015. The committee looked at various models and manufacturers before choosing Pierce Manufacturing Company.

The committee, under the leadership of Deputy Chief Justin Gattorno spent two long days reviewing line for line the specifications Pierce developed. Consulting for the fire company was Tom Shand from Emergency Vehicles Resources making sure that the items listed were the best needs of the fire company. Having Tom along during this process helped the fire company get the best vehicle for the price.

The committee would like to thank Pierce Manufacturing for the hospitality along with our sales rep Curt Woerth who dealt with the questions; changes and corrections while going through the specs. Ironically Curt was the sales rep for the 1992 E-One Ladder when he worked for that company. Now working for Glick Fire Equipment of Lancaster County, he is selling West Grove the new Ladder Truck which will be his "100th" vehicle sold under the Pierce name. WGFC is honored to have this long lasting relationship with Curt and all the folks at Glick Fire Equipment.

Thanks to the families of Chief John Chambers; Deputy Chief Justin Gattorno; Captain Tim Shannon; Past Chief Matt Wood; Chief Engineer Lary Hicks (who could not make the trip) and President Tom Glass for allowing the committee to spend several days away during this trip plus the countless hours involved in meetings to see this project through.