Lawrence fire fighters were busy testing out the city's new fire truck — a 100' ladder — on Monday March 21, 2011 at the fire and medical training center at 19th and Haskell. The truck cost about .2 million but replaced a truck that was more than 20 years old.

Lawrence fire fighters check out the city's newest fire apparatus, a 100' ladder, that arrived in Lawrence last week. The truck, which has a platform at the top to make fire fighting easier, replaces a ladder truck that was more than 20 years old.

Lawrence fire fighters train on the city's new 100' ladder truck at the training center near 19th and Haskell streets in Lawrence on Monday, March 21, 2011. The truck has a small water tank, compared to the more than 20-year-old truck it replaced that had no internal water tank.

A new fire truck for Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical will feature a basket allowing multiple firefighters to rise into the skies, and will add safety measures, too.

The truck features a 100-foot ladder, said Acting Officer Andy Flory, who was assisting with training efforts on the new truck this week at 19th Street and Haskell Avenue.

It also has a basket with a 1,000-pound capacity on top of the ladder where firefighters can stand and use two spray nozzles to extinguish fires. The department’s other ladder trucks have ladders that reach 75 feet high and only have one spray nozzle, and no basket.

The new ladder will be the department’s highest — high enough to reach the seventh floor on Kansas University’s McCollum Hall. That three-wing residence hall on Daisy Hill, at 10 stories high, is the city’s tallest building, Flory said.

Because of the added protection gained from the truck, KU’s housing department contributed $50,000 for the truck, Flory said. Overall, the truck cost just under $1.2 million, Fire Chief Mark Bradford said.

It’s also emblazoned with a Jayhawk logo on both sides and the phrase “Protecting the Jayhawks.”

The truck will be housed at Station No. 5, 1911 Stewart Ave., near McCollum and four other KU residence halls.

With antilock brakes, airbags and a whole array of warning bells that go off when things aren’t exactly right, the truck has a wide range of safety features.

“It’s a lot safer than the trucks we were replacing,” Flory said. “We’re very, very fortunate.”

For example, heat sensors on the bottom of the basket allow the firefighters inside the basket to know when flames are too close and are beginning to affect the truck’s equipment. A sprinkler on the bottom of the basket can be triggered to help extinguish the blaze.

The new truck can pump water at 2,000 gallons per minute if it gets sufficient water pressure from a hydrant. It also uses a mixture of water and foam that’s compressed to create a substance that can better smother the flames.

This week, firefighters were training to learn the truck’s new features, and it will be in operation soon, after radios are installed, Flory said.