PA fire company says Sutphen takes responsibility for tower ladder failure
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The president of the Belle Valley Fire Department in Erie County, Pennsylvania says cables improperly installed during a rebuild of the department’s Sutphen tower ladder are to blame for the failure of the rig on June 26 that injured three firefighters. The firefighters were hospitalized with neck, back and knee injuries during the sudden drop of the bucket while working on a radio tower at the Wattsburg Hose Company.
The truck’s manufacturer, Sutphen Corp. of Columbus, Ohio, has accepted responsibility and will pick up the truck today to make the necessary repairs at no cost to Belle Valley, department President Jeff Skonieczki said.
He said their investigation into the accident determined that the wrong raising and lowering cables were placed on the truck when the ladder was rebuilt after suffering major chemical damage while at a fire at a building on Iroquois Avenue in Harborcreek Township on May 14, 2011.
Skonieczki said this morning that Sutphen Corp. continues to investigate whether the improper cable installation was caused by employee error, mismarked inventor or an identification error by a supplier.
