Check out this interesting video about the ladder shop in San Francisco. We apologize for not giving credit to whoever sent this to us, for the life of us, we can’t find the email. Anyway, San Francisco FD is still making their ladders from wood, the same way they were made back in the day. Besides just looking great, these things are built to last! The one being repaired in the video is apparently 92 years old. It’s great to hear how they justify using the ladders because of powerlines, proximity of buildings, and wind conditions. Maybe we should all go back to wood…
[flv]http://www.vententersearch.com/videos/flv/sanfranladder.flv[/flv]
46 thoughts on “Wood Ladders”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Great story, amazing tradition!
Although our reasons are probably more budgetary than SFD’s we still use wooden ladders as well. Our newer engines and truck have aluminum and fiberglass ladders, but three of our 1980’s vintage engines still have have one 16ft. ground ladder and one 24ft. extension ladder, both wood. They still work fine and in fact are very durable, if not a little heavy. As we like to say Babylon HAS WOOD.
Awesome. It is amazing to see the pride in their craft. Those guys are true artisans. My hat’s off to those fellas.
That IS awesome! Thanks for sharing!
What an awesome tradition. Very cool.
Great story! Nothing like tradition when we see it disappearing from the fire service everyday now. Wish more departments would hold on to what made the fire service such a great profession, I know we have to move forward but we also need to remember where we came from too. Just my opion!
I’m lucky enough to be part of one of the few other departments that still use wood ladders. The only down side to them is their weight.
Nothing like pride in your work. True American Fire Service Pride and Tradition. I wish all would share that same level of enthusiasm for their jobs.
Great find! Proud tradition and craftsmanship. Still using the original log book? How awesome is that?!?!?
Wooden ladders…. One of the only things left in the fire service able to stand up to a donkey kick and still be operational after. Love the log book!
Never understood why they used wooden ladders until now. Makes a lot of sense. Its awesome to see how much pride those guys take in their job and how skilled they are.
Outstanding post fellas. There’s a tradition that makes a lot of sense. I would like to think we would still use them up in the northeast. But their weight, plus ice and snow after a big job would be a back breaker.
Loganfire- Believe it or not, there are still a few departments in NH using wooden ladders. In fact, Keene used to spec them on every new rig til the long-time chief retired in the late 80’s. I bet they still have a few of them kicking around in the back shed!
What a fantastic tradition… True iron truckmen on the left coast! We can’t even get a 50′ on our trucks! Thanks for sharing this great snippit of history.
Be safe Brothers!
Chris
I have to troll for a second:
But I don’t have wooden ladders in my district.
Anyway, what a great tradition, thanks for sharing it with us!
Great Clip! San Fran has a few things that are interesting like there high pressure hydrant system.
Great story…I think the best thing about this story isn’t the laddes themselves…it’s what allows for their continued use. First, having enough people on the fire ground to manage them shows that SFFD understands the manpower requierments on the fire ground and presumably minimume staffing quotas haven’t been imposed. Second to budget for maintenance, let alone an entier shop to do so, proves that the cuts most cities are placing on their fire departments, aren’t being imposed here. “Pride in ownership” by: Rick Lasky talks in great detail about preserving the traditions of our fire service in several ways. This can only be distcribrd as the ultimate preservation of those time honored traditions. To SFFD…thank you. KTF
L.A. County and L.A. City, along with a number of Southern California Cities still use wood ladders. The City of Torrance which I work at still has wood ladders on all truck companys. Aluminum ladders are not safe for firefighting and should be removed.
Great piece, just shows the Duty, Pride, and Tradition that these brothers kept passing on.
I retired from a Fire Sprinkler Union and we had up to 16′ A-Frame extension ladders with 14′ straight up extension which could easily help us to reach 33-35 ft.. I could personally carry a 14′ ladder which would help me reach 30′. Climb it, carry pipe , and pipe wrench to the top and install and make up the pipe. Kinda empresses me to see so many Firemen it takes to carry a 50′ extension ladder which is straight up. Thanks for the video.
Chris,
We also had wooden ladders on our engines over in Newington on coastal NH until the early 90’s as well.
Howard?
Aluminum ladders are unsafe for fire service use and should be removed? That’s a bold and broad statement seeing how they are widely used in this country and have been for many decades.
If weight is the only issue with these ladders… SF thanks for not giving in to pussification. And great to see some tradition still in the service, we are losing that too with this new generation.
That’s very impressive.
While seeing the use of wood is interesting, I am more interested in their shop. To think that you have your own shop that repairs and makes your own pieces of safety and life saving equipment is fantastic. So little time is spent on laddering, the skills, the inspection process, that this video shows. Everyone should take a lesson learned from SF and apply this to every piece of equipment in their inventory. No not make their own, but take the time to inspect, maintain and repair, and finally train with their equipment.
Hats off SF
wow this is amazing stuff, we need more depts like this. way to go SFFD.
i love it …keepin our heritage alive. thanks for the video
Very cool.
@Ed Jordan:
And I bet those ladders you used were rated for a single person WITHOUT a fully complement of PPE, tools, charged hose, or possibly rescuing a victim. This lower rating means that they massed CONSIDERABLY less than ladders rated for use in the Fire Service. *rolls eyes*
Wow cool stuff thank you for sharing,, never touched wood !!! Anyone know the weight difference on say 24 wood Vs 24 fire service aluminum?? Just curios
So wood has certain advantages, but that doesn’t make aluminum ladders worthless. Pussification my ass, gramp, I bet where you’re from they use horse-drawn carriages and leather buckets.
Found it, I am not sure if it is a fire service ladder but it states “A typical 24-foot wood ladder weighs about 65 pounds, and a comparable aluminum ladder weighs 50 pounds.” Not bad for the pro’s of wood
Great video! Its good to see the boys keeping the pride and traditions of the Fire Service!
Steve, I do wear a leather bucket as a matter of fact, and it fits better than any other helmet I have wore. I will bet my life a lot of companies do not want wood ladders because they are to heavy. Thats my point. I see all the time 2 people carrying a 24 ft Al. ladder. Where I come from that is a one man job. For all these companies crying no money… these ladders sure last a long time- If you can take pride in them and keep them in working order.
I’ve been with the San Francisco Fire Department for almost 20 years. Our 24′ “Bracing Ladder” as it is called because it’s primary use is to brace our 50′ Extension Ladder, weighs about 92 lbs., our 22′ Fire Escape Ladder weighs about 76 lbs.. Our 35′ Extension Ladder (our most commonly thrown ladder) weighs about 123 lbs.. The 22 and 24 require 2 FF’s to throw, the 35 requires 3 FFs but two can do it and the 50 requires 6 FFs. All of the ladders I’ve mentioned are of truss construction, the beams are made of Douglas Fur and the rungs are made of Hickory or Ash. The grains in the beams of all of our ladders is true and straight, no knots or imperfections. The guy who runs the ladder shop, Jerry, is a friend of mine and very talented.
Jon,
Thanks for the info. Please pass on to Jerry how much we admire his work, and how important we feel what he is doing to keep a worthwhile fire department tradition alive. His passion for what he does, and true craftsmanship are commendable. I truly wish more people “building” stuff for the fire service were more like him.
I’d love to see a picture of the 24 bracing ladder in operation with the 50′ It’s not something we see everyday.
Also, I’m sure we would all love to see some additional pictures of the ladder shop, and some ladders being built. Any additional information or images would be much appreciated. I’d love to put together a dedicated page all about wood ladders. -Jimm-
Alright Jimm, I’m working on Monday the 25th and Thursday the 28th. I’ll get some photos of the 50 being thrown and braced with the 24. The ladder shop I can visit at a later date. By the way Jerry’s civil service title is a “panel maker”, he is responsible for making the molds for our brass appliances like our high pressure reducing valve; the Gleason Valve. His name is Jerry Fong not Jerry Lee.
I was working when that film crew that did the video you posted was visiting our firehouse and I sent them to meet Jerry. I’m glad they did, Jerry is one of the kindest men I have met at our Central Shops. Jon
We used wood ladders in our academy. I always felt safe on them. If you can handle a wood ladder, aluminum is no problem.
John,
I went to Chabot Academy, and we learned to throw the aluminum 24 with one person. It free’s up an extra set of hands, and can easily be accomplished. I loved working with the wood ladders.
*Jon (sorry)
Many companies around me expect you to be able throw the 35′ aluminum by yourself.
Jon-
Is there any way to get in touch with Jerry? We carry gleason valves on two of our older pumpers due to our high pressure water system, and would love to talk to him or email with him sometime.
Great story on the SFFD ladder shop.
Duty – Pride – Tradition
Jimm, I just got back from vacation and I’ve got photos of the 50′ Extension Ladder being raised, braced with the 24′ Ladder and large line being carried over the ladder. How do I post these photos to your web site ?
Jimm, I neglected to read the website before my last post. I will post the photos I promised you on October 21st. Jon
Jimm, I attempted to send over 25 photos, let me know if you received them, Jon
While wood is nowhere near the conductor of electricity that aluminum is, is wood safe to use around high voltage wires when the ladder and ground are wet?
Great video. We still have the wooden ladders that came with our 1949 Bickle Seagrave.
Cool write-up in the news about the SF guys and their shop.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-sf-ladders-20120224,0,1816491.story?page=1