Fire Chief Timothy Bailey told the Board of Selectmen on April evening that Norwood's ladder truck has been out of service for about two and a half months and remains under repair, while the department is leaning on mutual aid for truck operations and managing a high medical-call volume.

Bailey said the ladder truck is “still out of service” and is currently with a manufacturer-recommended vendor to address a transmission problem. He said the department has had “the best dialogue we’ve had in a while” and hoped for an update by the end of the week.

The chief said call volume “to date is, 2001 79,” a figure he described as roughly 19.45 emergency calls per day. He reported the department has provided mutual aid 41 times since Jan. 1 and received mutual aid 98 times, with ambulance responses accounting for most incoming aid.

Bailey and board members described operational impacts: ground ladders (largest 28 feet) let the department reach most second floors, but commercial-property incidents and complex rescues require a truck and so the department requests Norfolk County ladder support when needed. “If the captain feels that a ladder truck is needed, he just makes the request to Norfolk County,” Bailey said.

On equipment and grants, Bailey said the department closed out a previously awarded fire-safety equipment grant after receiving the gear and has accepted a second round of grant funding that must be spent before June 30. He said the department also received annual “SAFE” grants: $7,200 for student fire-education work and $2,600 for senior-safety programming.

On personnel, Bailey said conditional offers were extended to two candidates, and he named one recruit, Mitchell Sanchez, who is scheduled to graduate the police/fire academy on May 2. He reported two long-term injuries in the ranks and a recent short-term injury.

Board members asked how long it will take to replace the ladder truck; Bailey said the town has placed a request for a replacement on the capital-outlay list and that procurement/replacement timelines could be multiple years. He asked for continued mutual-aid cooperation while the truck is repaired or replaced.

The discussion remained at the informational level and no formal board action was taken during the update. The Selectmen thanked Bailey for the briefing and said they will continue to monitor the ladder-truck repair and the department’s mutual-aid needs.

Ending: The Selectmen moved on to other agenda items after a round of questions; Bailey said he would update the board when he had confirmatory repair information.