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Inside the San Francisco Fire Department's ladder shop

By Rain Noe - November 5, 2010

in Materials | Object Culture

Sharp-eyed residents of San Francisco may notice something unusual about their city's emergency services: The ladders on all of the fire trucks are made of wood, not metal. Why? In a city with low-hanging power lines, non-electricity-conducting wood is a safer choice than metal.

This awesome video by Ask Media Productions takes a look inside the the SFFD's ladder shop, where they repair and build ladders up to fifty feet in length out of Douglas Fir. The resultant ladders can weigh up to 350 pounds (which actually makes them more stable in a crosswind) and are built to last for more than a lifetime: The oldest ladder the SFFD has in service is from 1918, making the 92-year-old object older than anyone in the department. And to say they are carefully constructed is an understatement, as the raw wood must spend fifteen years in the shop, acclimating to the local humidity, before they are deemed worthy raw material.

Inside the Ladder Shop at the San Francisco Fire Department from AdamKaplan on Vimeo.

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Tom O'Brien

13 years ago

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I spent almost 30 years in the Oakland Fire Dept, retiring in 1977. This video brought back many memories. We had a ladder shop behind old 8 Engine on 51st Street just off Telegraph Ave. The ladder man operated just like the S.F man but worked alone. Its gone now. The City wanted to save money and didn't get a replacement when he retired. This film should be shown to every new firefighter. Thanks for the memory. O.B.
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Jayeson Vance

13 years ago

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I hosted the SFFD boat Phoenix and a team of our fire fighters on an Alcatraz tour recently and must say they are a great bunch of people!
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SFBerto

13 years ago

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Why not Fiberglass you ask...well because although it may be Cheaper, and lightweight it is non-conductive UNTIL wet. Once the fiber glass is wet then it will conduct electricity just as an aluminum ladder will. And eventually fiberglass will too, fold over when it gets to hot.
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Mumbles

13 years ago

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Yes Nicholas, wood is an ideal material for resisting fire....

Why not use fiberglass? Cheap, lightweight, non-conductive, and can be made fire resistant.
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Nicholas

13 years ago

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Wood is generally better than metal performance-wise since it retains structural integrity while burning. Aluminum melts, but first weakens and warps!
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