LABELLE, Fla — LaBelle Fire Rescue is getting major upgrades to keep pace with a city that’s growing up—and out.
Fox 4’s Hendry County Community Correspondent Austin Schargorodski, visited the department to talk with the team about how new improvements - including the department’s first-ever ladder truck - will make the city safer.
Watch what the team told Austin about the upgrades:
When seconds count, so does reach - and for the first time, LaBelle firefighters will soon have a ladder truck to access upper floors in a city that’s building vertically.
Just this week, Schargorodski reported on a four-story apartment complex planned for Cowboy Way, and another is nearly complete outside Moss Landing.
“It’s going to provide us with a higher reach to taller buildings, that way they can apply the water source directly to the fire on the higher floors,” said LaBelle Fire Department spokesperson Jennifer Hubbard.
Right now, Hubbard said, crews rely on manual ladders, which take time to set up. She said the new truck will speed things up and is expected to arrive next year. When it does, it’ll be in the hands of the city’s first full-time firefighters.
“We’re currently now a combination department - we have full-time staff as well as volunteers. So we’ll have faster response times and immediately be able to respond to a call when it’s dispatched,” Hubbard said.
The upgrades don’t stop there. Hubbard said the department is also hardening the station so crews can stay put during hurricanes.
“We will be replacing all the doors and windows. Currently at a Category 1 hurricane - if winds go above a Category 1 we have to abandon the station. Once the hardening is done we will no longer have to abandon the station,” she said.
Hubbard said these upgrades build on the department’s record of success - including seven life-saving rescues to date. She said it’s another step toward giving firefighters what they need to keep that momentum going.
“It’s a huge accomplishment for all of our firefighters, the City of LaBelle, and LaBelle Fire Department,” Hubbard said.
