Although Greater Sudbury Fire Services’ main ladder truck has been repaired, it remains out of service due to a lapse in staff training on the apparatus.
The lapse in training is independent of ladder truck No. 1 falling into a state of disrepair in late March, Sudbury Professional Firefighters Association president Mike Squarzolo told Sudbury.com this week.
“The training had lapsed prior and the city was made aware last fall,” he said, noting that the Ministry of Labour intervened at the time to request copies of training records on the apparatus which city staff were unable to provide.
“There was plenty of opportunity for the city to address that or to come up with a plan, and instead they chose to fight against the idea of training qualified people.
“A lack of training continues to exist on a number of fronts, and this one just happens to be the one that got pushed to the top at the time.”
The training lapse presents “a huge health and safety concern for the people expected to do the work” and for the public at large who are supposed to be provided service in a safe manner, he said.
Alongside other unanswered questions, city spokesperson Alyssa Lashbrook declined to share with Sudbury.com a projected timeline for when training would wrap up and staff would again have operational access to a ladder truck.
“It’s slow to roll out the training,” Squarzolo told Sudbury.com, adding that he believes Lashbrook didn’t provide a timeline because they don’t know.
“Things have been really difficult under the current administration in getting them to do the right thing or run the department properly, and maybe that speaks to their inexperience,” Squarzolo said, adding that while there are “many facets to that,” the ladder truck situation points to it boiling over into training.
“It’s about dollars and cents, and training people costs money and there isn’t always a will to spend money to make sure that people are properly trained.”
City firefighters’ lack of access to a ladder truck presents a gap in services which Squarzolo described as “a boatload of things you’re not capable of doing.”
Although firefighters are running pumper trucks in place of ladder trucks, he said that they’ve lost out on the functionality of a ladder truck.
Ladder truck No. 1 features a 100-foot aerial ladder which can reach approximately six to seven storeys. Between rescue capabilities at these heights, roof ventilation and high-angle water attacks, Squarzolo described various operations as “pretty much compromised” when the truck is out of service.
This runs counter to the assessment city communications staff shared with Sudbury.com on Aug. 1, when they described Greater Sudbury Fire Services as remaining “fully equipped to keep our community safe.”
Sudbury.com was made aware of the fact Greater Sudbury Fire Services was without access to a ladder truck through an anonymous tip we received in late April, at which time they’d been without a ladder truck for approximately one month.
At the time, we connected with Deputy Chief Jesse Oshell, who noted that ladder truck No. 1 and their backup truck (No. 2) were out for repairs.
Oshell told Sudbury.com at the time that staff were training on ladder truck No. 3 in order to use it within approximately a month. While trucks No. 1 and 2 have a reach of 100 feet, or approximately six to seven storeys, No. 3 reaches 75 feet.
In response to recent correspondence from readers expressing concerns regarding the status of the city’s ladder trucks, Sudbury.com reached out to city communications staff for information last week. Oshell was unavailable.
Without explaining why, city spokesperson Alyssa Lashbrook told Sudbury.com by email on Aug. 1, “We are not doing interviews for the ladder truck at this time.”
She did, however, explain that city ladder truck No. 1 had been repaired and is now fully operational.
“Training on the unit is underway and will continue over the next several weeks, with the ladder returning to service immediately afterward,” she wrote.
In a follow-up email earlier this week, Lashbrook noted that this training is in response to Ministry of Labour orders which require documented training specific to the operation of the city’s ladder trucks.
“Training is being conducted on both Ladder 1 and Reserve Ladder 5, as both are subject to the same Ministry of Labour orders that stipulate that personnel must receive documented, truck-specific training before the vehicles can be placed into service,” she wrote.
“Both Ladder 1 and Reserve Ladder 5 are mechanically fit and training has already commenced.”
In declining to answer Sudbury.com’s follow-up questions, Lashbrook concluded, “At this time, we don’t have anything further to add beyond the statement we previously shared.”
Although Squarzolo was able to provide Sudbury.com with some of this additional context, Lashbrook was asked but declined to answer the following questions:
- What’s Reserve Ladder 5 (we were only aware of ladder trucks 1-3)
- What became of No. 2 and No. 3?
- What's the nature of the Ministry of Labour orders? Why were they made?
- Does this mean there are no ladder trucks currently in operation?
- Is the city not sharing a projected timeline for a ladder truck to be put in operation?
- Is it safe to say that the city has been without access to a ladder truck since March 2025? Or, was No. 3 put in service by late May, as previously planned?
- Why was an interview request denied?
Squarzolo said he doesn’t know what the city is referencing when they cite Reserve Ladder 5, and clarified that there are no ladder trucks currently in front-line operation. Ladder truck No. 3 might be in use at its original station in Azilda, he said, but he described it as a lesser apparatus than No. 1, and it is not being used as a front-line ladder truck.
Sudbury.com has also reached out to provincial spokespeople for insight regarding why the Ministry of Labour order was made. A spokesperson said that the matter is under investigation and that they couldn’t comment on the matter at this time.
On July 16, Sudbury Professional Fire Fighters published a Facebook post regarding ladder truck No. 1. Although it only makes passing reference to the truck being out of service, the post cites some of the situations it’s useful in, including high-rise rescues, technical rope and confined space operations, elevated master streams for large-scale fires, roof operations and ventilation and rapid access to hard-to-reach areas.
“When seconds count, Ladder 1 ensures that Greater Sudbury’s firefighters can reach higher, work safer, and save lives,” they wrote. “This is more than a truck, it's a commitment to safety, readiness, and regional support. We look forward to the return of our ladder truck.”
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.