Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

IQALUIT (Jun 15/98) - Fire chief Neville Wheaton has good news for the town of Iqaluit.

Along with the Nunavut capital's current fleet of firefighting vehicles, Wheaton says a brand spanking new aerial truck is due to arrive this summer on the sealift.

"It's our first aerial. The town has grown to the point where we're going to need something," says Wheaton.

While most of Iqaluit's buildings are not particularly high, they are wide and the aerial truck can play a crucial role in putting out fires in these types of structures.

"Most people equate aerials with high buildings but with the Northern Store, the hospital, schools ... there are enough of these types of buildings to justify it," says Wheaton.

Bought with fund from both the town a federal infrastructure program, the new truck rings in at $309,000 and has a reach of just over 22 metres.

It is unfortunately, three metres short of reaching the top floor of the Brown Building, Iqaluit's tallest structure.

"It's still 10 feet (three metres) shy ... but if we can get them down to the seventh floor, we can rescue them."

Wheaton says that upgrading the aerial truck

to the next level -- 30 metres -- would have put the truck over the $800,000 mark.

He adds, however, that the newest member of the team comes equipped for working in a Northern climate.

"It has a cold-weather package. The people from Vancouver who are supplying the truck have no idea what a cold-weather package is but it is a custom-made truck," says Wheaton.

The truck being replaced by the aerial model is expected to travel up island to join a fire department in another Baffin community.