With the town mayor, city manager, members of the council and members of the Ladder Truck Design Committee fronting the new ladder truck, Fire Chief Billy Hanks welcomes everyone to the dedication of the new Tower 81, only the second truck in the commonwealth to feature a mid-mount ladder design.With members of the Christiansburg Town Council, Mayor Mike Barber and a host of family members and well-wishers present, the Christiansburg Fire Department Sunday evening unveiled a brand new ladder truck and retired the old ladder truck after 32 years of service.
The new truck, a Tower 81, features a mid-mount ladder, meaning the turn table is in the middle of the apparatus for better truck placement as opposed to a rear-mount ladder. It is the only truck of its kind in Southwest Virginia and is only the second truck of its type in the entire commonwealth.
In dedicating the truck, Lt. Brandon Turner explained that with Christiansburg’s growth, the fire department had worked with the manufacturer to bring a demo truck for personnel to take to the tighter streets in town.
Fire Chief Billy Hanks started the dedication ceremony by calling forward the Ladder Truck Design Committee and the town’s mayor and council members who were present. Mayor Barber declared Christiansburg had the best fire department in the state with the equipment the firefighters needed to do the job.
“They get what they need, and they have some of the best equipment in the state of Virginia,” the mayor said.
The Tower 81 Truck Design Committee members were Mike Dickerson, chairman; Nathan Brewbaker, Todd Chrisley, Peter Haislip, Brandon Turner, Mike Moore, Link Sheppard, Floyd Childress and Potsie Smith. Dickerson and Moore served on the committee that secured the Grumman Arial Cat ladder truck in 1988. It was the last Arial Cat built in the Oren-Grumman plant in Vinton.
Lt. Turner delivered the speech preceding the official deduction of the new truck. He explained that the decals on the side and the truck cab and the flags on all four sides of the apparatus show, “We will never forget those that have gone on before us. There are four flags for our fallen brothers over the last two years and the other man and woman that have fallen.”
One of the decals was of Cookie Monster wearing a cowboy hat and a necktie. The three elements represent respectively, Turner said, Lee Cochran, former fire chief Jimmy Epperly, who died in 2019, and Brian Horne.
Turner related how Cookie Monster is an appropriate character to represent Cochran because he loved any food that was free but would always share food with the other firefighters.
A cowboy hat, Turner said, is a good character for Chief Epperly since he always wore a cowboy hat when he was around the station and when he was running fire calls.
The necktie, Turner explained, is for Horne since he always had a necktie on when he went on fire calls. Often, Turner said, he would come into the station wearing a suit.
The second decal on the front of the truck, “Hot Dog,” is for Roy Redd, Turner said, because he took great pride in the old ladder truck. Each year he gathered a few people to wax the truck by hand.
“This was his baby,” Turner said. “For years, Roy was the one who drove Santa Claus through town in the Christmas parade. He would spray-wax the truck before each parade to ensure that it was looking it best for the public to see.”
Finally, to end the day’s celebration, department members ran the ladder up to its full height as a demonstration.
