(Additional photographs below.)
Haverhill second fire department ladder truck went into service Sunday morning, completing a process that began with $4.1 million federal grant last fall used to hire 16 new firefighters.
Haverhill Fire Chief Robert M. O’Brien said Saturday Ladder 4, based out of the Bradford fire station, comes just in time as the first of several bridge replacement projects threaten gridlock. The chief hosted Mayor Melinda E. Barrett and other officials Saturday to celebrate the rollout.
“Part of the coverage area for the second ladder will be all of Bradford, parts of Engine 1’s area—River Street and the Merrimack/Washington Street, which is our highest concentration of multistory buildings. We will have both ladders responding on that, which we haven’t in many years had the ability to do that,” O’Brien said.
The mayor said traffic impeding fire trucks crossing the relatively narrow Joseph Comeau Bridge over the Merrimack River bothered her when the 290-unit apartment project, called “The Beck,” was under consideration.
“That was one of my concerns as a councilor when I voted no. How can they clear that? I was thinking (then) that the ladder comes from Water Street over, but now we have people responding that have to clear the other way.”
Haverhill Deputy Fire Chief Christopher Link said deploying two ladder trucks will greatly improve safety and outcomes.
“I had to juggle between: is ventilation more important than throwing ground ladders? Because as soon as we get there we’ve got companies going inside the building and one of our first priorities is get them ground ladders in front of where they’re going. So, if things go bad, they have a second way out,” he explained.
Capt. Stephen Ryan said the ladder truck, which has served as a backup, is a 2005 KME truck that the city purchased used in 2012. It has been rotated with Water Street’s Ladder 1 and is similar in age. O’Brien said it will take three years for a manufacturer to build and equip a new ladder truck to meet the city’s specifications.
O’Brien said rollout of the second ladder truck necessitated some remodeling at the South Main Street firehouse, including the addition of a used mobile office trailer to house additional firefighters. Renovation of the $65,000 trailer, including a walkway between the back of the fire station and the new quarters, was overseen by Lt. Henry Schlothan and undertaken by the firefighters themselves. If or when an additional fire station is built within the city, the chief noted, the mobile unit may be reused elsewhere by any city department.
As WHAV reported first last September, a grant writing team led by Capt. Richard Shellene and written and supported by Lt. Brian Ray and firefighters James Bizeur, Michael Foustoukos, Ryan Fairbanks and Timothy Carroll secured the ladder staffing grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Firefighters James Bizeur and Taylor Gillette work the controls for Haverhill’s Ladder 4 (WHAV News photograph.)

The rear of the Bradford Fire Station as seen from the top of the station’s Ladder 4. (WHAV News photograph.)