LEARNING NEW TRICKS FROM AN OLD TRUCK

 The public may see Humboldt Bay Fire cruising around in a new ride.
 
“Santa Cruz fire has allowed us to practice with, in anticipation of us receiving our new ladder truck,” said Assistant Chief Bill Gillespie.
 
What’s so different about this vehicle, is that it’s operated from both the front and the back.
 
The “tiller” allows the vehicle to go on narrow roads and make turns that a “straight vehicle” wouldn’t be able to do.
 
“The tractor driver is in control of the vehicle most of the time,” Brooks Conner said. “He controls the speed, the area in which the vehicle will be going, the lane the vehicle is going and the overall apparatus."
 
 
The tractor will work as a team with the tiller. The tiller’s job is to steer the trailer and negotiate the turns.
 
"You got to watch the cars in the other lane, the cars that are parked on the other side of the street, and obstacles that are along the curb,” Rick Lahargoue said.
 
That will all happen once the vehicle is in operation mid-march.