Le Roy Fire Chief Craig Johnson and Assistant Chief Josh Pfendler with the new Ladder 65, the new “Beast of the East”
“It’s a 100-foot aerial platform. It has a 2,000 gallon per minute tank pump on it with 300 gallons of water, and it’s equipped with fire and rescue capabilities too, so it’s kind of the jack of all trades truck that we put together,” says Chief Johnson.
“We put some execution tools on this truck. Sometimes in a fire, you might need to cut a gate or get into a rescue. Get into a residence easier. We put some battery-powered hydraulic tools on the truck, and also, we do have some airbags in the truck too. If this truck ever was in a situation where it was on the road and a car accident came in; it could go and help cut someone out of the car too.”
The cab is a little bigger than the old 65.
“There’s more room for storage for gear for the members. It’s a little bit roomier for the guys when they gett in, and the cab of the truck sits higher. Before, when you were sitting in the old truck, your heads were about touching the ceiling of the truck. So, when you’re sitting in the seats, you have plenty of clearance.”
The new truck has been in the works since 2017. In 2022, the community was behind the new Ladder 65 after learning about the age of the old Ladder 65, a Baker Aerial model that came to Le Roy in 2002. Past Chief Rick Bater was chief when the department brought the old 65 to Le Roy. The cost in 2002 was just under $800,000. The new Pierce Ladder 65 cost is about $1.8 million. $800,000 in capital funds were used and $900,000 was bonded and financed. Chief Johnson says purchasing the truck did not raise taxes. The community voted to move forward with the purchase in 2021.
So, what is the difference between the old 65 and the new 65.
“Basically, just the technology is the biggest change. The truck itself, the ladder device, and that’s pretty much all the same, and that it sets up a little bit quicker because of the newer technology than what our old one did,” says Bater, who is a driver, a safety officer and a commissioner as well as a firefighter.
“You’ve got more safety devices. You’ve got like your stabilizers coming out. Our old truck, they have to come out. You set it up, then you have to pin it to lock it in case you had a catastrophic failure. This automatically locks once you get it set. So, it sets up a lot quicker than what our old truck did.”
There’s also a camera inside on the dash that shows where the stabilizers are coming out.
“So, when I pulled it in tonight, I turned that camera on because I didn’t want to get in the grass being softer today. But you see how it slopes down. So, I wanted to keep it on a more solid surface where it’s a little more level.”
The old 65, a Baker Aerial scope, has been sold to another town and still has some life in it at almost 25 years old.
Video of dedication-September 28th, 2026 at 10 Lent Avenue
Ladder 65 was dispatched to its first call on Monday, the odor of gas in a residence on Pleasant Street, one of the narrowest streets in the village. “The truck did great on its first call, says Chief Johnson. It’s probably one of the smallest streets that we have. And it handled the course, so it did good. It did everything we wanted it to do.”
Johnson says the only thing that is standard is the frame and the suspension and the tires. Everything above the frame is custom to Le Roy and the way they ordered it. Before adding the equipment, the truck was at 84,000lbs according to past chief Bater, who is one of 10 drivers at the Le Roy Fire Department.
“It’s a heavy truck to start with and you get tight streets like in the village; you got to be careful when you’re turning. That’s why it’s so important to get wheel time behind the wheel and get into those tight places and get a feel for the truck,” says Bater.
The approval smile for Ladder 65-future driver.
The six-person cab has airbags like a passenger vehicle. They’re mounted inside the seats. They also have side collision airbags, and frontal airbags.
Production of the new ladder truck started in December of 2025 in Wisconsin. The final inspection was in June. The Department took delivery the first week of August. Crews were required to do three days of Aerial Training upon arrival from Wisconsin.
“The truck has the same capabilities as the other truck, but this truck is going to have less downtime. That was one big thing that we were running into with the other truck was parts availability. You know, it was a 2002, so we’re almost close to 25 years old on the apparatus, and every time it went out of service, it went out of service for weeks at a time. So hopefully, for the next 10 or 15 years, this truck will get us longer in service times,” says Cheif Johnson.
After 400 pages of plans for the Ladder truck, Chief Johnson decided to add a bell.
“So, the bell is something that was always on a fire truck up until probably 40 years ago. We actually preserved the bells that we have, there is actually one on the wall in the club room, this was something I wanted to bring back. Eventually, we’ll take the bell off and get it engraved and have it be something of a memorial status to the truck, and I hope that bell goes on the next truck. What we’re trying to do is take a piece of history and move it through generations.”
Deacon Dave Ehrhart from Our Lady of Mercy Parish provides a blessing during the dedication ceremony on Monday evening.
The new Ladder 65 will carry the same name as the previous Ladder 65. “The Beast of the East”