The 1990 aerial ladder fire truck recently donated by Cedar Falls council member David Sires to the Traer Fire Dept. pictured prior to being sent off for restickering and diagnostic work. Contributed photo

Things are looking up for the Traer Fire Dept. thanks to a 55-foot aerial ladder truck donation.

Chief Tyler Sell announced to the city council during its February 8 meeting that David Sires – a Cedar Falls City Council member – had recently donated the truck to the City of Traer.

“We have a pretty, new piece of equipment,” Sell said.

The truck is a 1990 model that Sires bought for fun, Sell said, but the councilman felt it could be better used by a small town.

A new aerial ladder would cost between $400,000 and $500,000, Sell said.

As part of his search for a small community to make the donation, Sires was perusing the Iowa Firefighters (IF) Association website and happened upon past IF Association president Nick Riley of Traer, and the ball started rolling from there.

Prior to the donation, the Traer fleet did not contain an aerial ladder truck – only pumpers with ground ladders up to 35 feet.

The nearest fire department in Tama County with an aerial ladder is the Toledo Fire Department which is on automatic standby for any Traer downtown fire.

The donated aerial has not been in service for quite some time and is currently going through a diagnostic rundown including work on the hydraulic system, Sell told the council, but everything appears to be going smoothly.

Repairs to the aerial have been approved for up to $6,000. If something more expensive is found to be wrong with the truck, Sell told the council the city might want to reconsider keeping the donation and look instead into selling it.

Sell said an aerial ladder would have been extremely useful seven years ago during the Jan. 13, 2015, fire that destroyed the downtown Traer flower shop Simply Blooming and damaged Traer Theatre.

If Traer had their own ladder truck at the time, downtown rescue response would have been sped up by 25 minutes.

The only major hurdle left to surmount is where to store new truck, Sell said, as it does not fit in the fire station and is therefore being stored out of town.

Storage issues aside, Sell called the donation “a good truck for Traer” that could make “a huge difference in lives and property” in exchange for a small investment now. The chief listed grain bin rescue as another possible use for the aerial ladder truck.

Prior to entering permanent service, the truck will be restickered specifically for Traer Fire.

And as long as everything continues to go smoothly, permanent service for the aerial should take place in April or May.

“We’re very excited,” Sell said.