Ladder 1 used to extract football.
Officer Vincent Wise has stepped onto the ground of the community by spending time mentoring three boys in foster care.
In the fall, one of them, a 10-year-old, had been having a little issue in school. “I talked to him about it, and told him if he started doing better, we would make one of our deals,” Wise said. “He wanted a football. He loves football, and I got him a football and some receiver gloves. After that things had been going really well.”
On December 2, Wise went over to spend some time with the boy to throw the football in the park. “I realized it was a different ball—a real tiny ball,” Wise said. “‘I asked, ‘Where is your ball?’ He said it got lost, and he had this look on his face like something more was going on, so I kind of pressed him, and asked what had happened to it. He told me that one of the kids in the neighborhood took it away from him and intentionally threw it in the top of a palm tree. I went to the park and looked through the trees. It was hard, but I found it. There was no way I could get to it, so I called Fire Rescue Captain Sorenson. He told me he would figure something out for me. The next thing you know, he calls me and tells me Ladder 1 is on the way. Firefighters from Station 1 showed up in Ladder 1; which is the newest, largest truck they’ve got.”
“We got the phone call from our Battalion Chief saying that an officer was requesting help, and gave us a short story that a kid got a ball stuck up in a tree,” Fire Captain Jason Mesa recounted. “We take every opportunity to set this ladder truck up. It makes for a good off-the-wall training. When we got there, we spoke with the officer, and got the back story. We like to train, so, anytime we can get the truck out to a different area, it is a plus for us. We used it to our advantage as far as training. We came up with a scenario—the best way to position the truck, put the ladder, and pretend it is a building window.”
The ball was 25 feet up in the tree, and the nearest reach for the truck was 60 feet. “So, we went out there and we positioned the truck for the best advantage,” Mesa said. “We got the ladder up to the tree, and got the ball out.”
“The boy was thrilled,” Wise said.
Ladder 1 attracted attention, and a lot of adults and kids in the neighborhood went to the park to see what was happening. After Fire Rescue got the ball down, they didn’t just pack up and leave. “We saw that it was a park, and a lot of kids,” Mesa said. “We always try to keep the trucks stocked with stickers and little toy fire helmets, so, we decided to take that opportunity and started handing out stickers, and helmets, and showed the kids the truck. Kids came from every end of the park to get stickers and helmets. They really ate it up and enjoyed themselves. We have a very good relationship with PD. We see each other a lot on calls and out on the street. We keep open lines of communication.”
“This was a great example of interagency cooperation and positive community engagement,” Wise commented.
