New truck honors late Fort Dodge firefighter
-Messenger photo by Bill Shea <br> This Pierce tower ladder was recently delivered to the Fort Dodge Fire Department. It has a boom that extends 100 feet into the air. At the end of that boom is a bucket where firefighters can work to extinguish fires and make rescues.
-Messenger photo by Bill Shea <br>Fire Department Lt. Devon Schuster, left, talks to Paul Neeson, a retired Fire Department captain, Wednesday morning in the bucket of the new tower ladder truck.
-Messenger photo by Bill Shea <br>The boom of the tower ladder has panels with Fort Dodge and 1854, the year the town was founded, printed on them.
-Messenger photo by Bill Shea <br> The front of the tower ladder has Truck 25 printed on it and a unique spinning light mounted on the grill.
-Messenger photo by Bill Shea <br> This Pierce tower ladder was recently delivered to the Fort Dodge Fire Department. It has a boom that extends 100 feet into the air. At the end of that boom is a bucket where firefighters can work to extinguish fires and make rescues.
-Messenger photo by Bill Shea <br>Fire Department Lt. Devon Schuster, left, talks to Paul Neeson, a retired Fire Department captain, Wednesday morning in the bucket of the new tower ladder truck.
-Messenger photo by Bill Shea <br>The boom of the tower ladder has panels with Fort Dodge and 1854, the year the town was founded, printed on them.
-Messenger photo by Bill Shea <br> The front of the tower ladder has Truck 25 printed on it and a unique spinning light mounted on the grill.
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The big new rig in the Fort Dodge firehouse is called Truck 25, and it didn't get that designation by random chance.
The truck -- called a tower ladder -- was numbered to honor Tom Peart, a firefighter who died on March 14, 2014. His death at age 48 of an apparent heart attack was a shock to his fellow firefighters.
Lt. Devon Schuster said 25 was Peart's badge number. He said the firefighters decided to give the truck that number to honor him.
He added that the rig is sometimes referred to as "Big Tom."
Big Tom backed into the firehouse for the first time last week.
The truck has a boom that extends 100 feet into the air. At the end of that boom is a bucket equipped with a large nozzle where firefighters stand to make rescues and attack fires.
The truck has a pump that can move 2,000 gallons of water a minute. It also has a 300 gallon water tank for putting out small fires.
It is powered by a diesel engine with a nearly 600 horsepower capacity.
The truck was made by Pierce Manufacturing of Appleton, Wisconsin. It cost about $1.6 million.
It will replace a ladder truck delivered in 2006. The older truck will be retained to serve as a backup.
Fire Chief Matt Price said the new tower ladder will go in service next month after it is fully equipped and all firefighters are trained on it.