On Tuesday, a dedication ceremony was held for the new ladder truck that was purchased by the City of Bainbridge.

City officials, workers and members of the community were in attendance at the ceremony held at the Bainbridge-Decatur County Chamber of Commerce building.

The ladder truck was on display with its ladder fully extended, reaching more than 100 feet in the air. Those in attendance were welcomed to take a closer look at the truck, which was purchased for more than $700,000 and assembled by Rosenbauer American—a company that creates and distributes firefighting equipment.

Mayor Mark Harrell welcomed everyone to the event and thanked the numerous parties involved in making the purchase possible through their hard work.

“It was a much-needed resource, and we are proud to have it here to help protect our citizens,” said Harrell.

Bainbridge Public Safety Director Larry Funderburke said the truck was purchased as a recommendation made in a fire protection study that was done looking at maintaining and possibly lowering the city’s Insurance Services Office (ISO) fire suppression rating, which is currently four. He said the truck is a major step in moving toward lowering the ISO rating, which will in turn help lower the cost of homeowner’s insurance in the city.

“This is our first ladder truck, and we are very proud of it,” said Funderburke.

BPS Fire Chief Dennis Mock thanked Mayor Harrell, the City Council and City Manager Chris Hobby for their hard work in acquiring the truck for the department.

“If it wasn’t for these people believing in this department, we wouldn’t have been able to get where we are today,” said Mock.

Hobby explained that the new City of Bainbridge ladder truck is the product of approximately four years of work and further elaborated on it being a crucial element to lowering the city’s ISO rating.

“It will be a valuable tool for many years to come for our citizens and the City of Bainbridge,” said Hobby.

An invocation at the ceremony was given by BPS Chaplain Rob Coram.