Firetruck has hot time while out on false alarm
The reported fire on Carol Avenue in Brighton last night turned out to be a false alarm, but fire crews had to jump to work anyway when their own ladder truck caught fire.
Flames appeared in the undercarriage of a 21-year-old Fire Department reserve ladder truck, working in place of Ladder 14 from the Cambridge Street firehouse, as crews were preparing to return from the call around 8 p.m., said department spokesman Steve MacDonald.
“Firefighters noticed a burning smell and underneath the truck, about midway down, they discovered some type of fire,’’ MacDonald said. “It was quickly extinguished.’’
Engine 41, which was also at the scene, ran a hose line to put out the fire. Crews also used a chemical fire extinguisher, said MacDonald.
Fire officials did not know the cause of the fire late last night.
Ladder 14 has been out of service for days. MacDonald said he did not know why.
Only two ladder trucks cover the Allston and Brighton neighborhoods. The next closest is Ladder 26 on Huntington Avenue, near Northeastern University.
Because of the fire, the reserve ladder truck would not have been able to function effectively as a rescue tool if there had been an actual building fire last night.
“If tonight the building was on fire and people were hanging out the windows, that aerial ladder would have been useless,’’ said Edward Kelly, president of the International Association of Firefighters Local 718. “This is another example of how the policy makers in the city of Boston chose to underfund the Fire Department, resulting in outdated, unsafe fire apparatus.’’
Kelly said the reserve ladder was made by Ocala, Fla.-based E-One and had been in service since 1989.
Dot Joyce, press secretary for Mayor Thomas M. Menino, defended the city’s plan to improve maintenance in the Fire Department.
“The mayor has been confident in Commissioner [Roderick] Fraser’s plan to turn around the maintenance division and the apparatus replacement plans at the Boston Fire Department,’’ Joyce said. “We have always maintained that professional maintenance crews should be responsible for the maintenance of this expensive apparatus.’’
The truck was towed to a Fire Department facility.
Boston’s ladder fleet and maintenance practices have been the subject of scrutiny since Lieutenant Kevin M. Kelley died in the January 2009 crash of Ladder 26, which lost its brakes and crashed into an apartment building in Mission Hill.
An internal department inquiry into the fatal crash released this week blamed inadequate maintenance. Three reviews by other agencies have taken the department and the city to task for maintenance and issues such as driver training.
Ten days before the fatal crash, a reserve ladder lost its brakes in Mission Hill. It crashed through a residential fence, but no one was injured.
John M. Guilfoil can be reached at jguilfoil@globe.com. 
