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One of the most recognizable vehicles on the road is the bright red (and sometimes yellow) fire truck! These specialized trucks are designed to have all the equipment needed to fight fires safely, quickly, and effectively. In this episode of All About the Car, we visit the Wausau Fire Department to talk with Fire Chief Bob Barteck. We’ll talk about what it takes to keep these trucks in top shape, as well as a little taste of what it’s like to be a fire fighter.

Bob grew up in Owen, WI, and his dad joined their local fire department in 1976. He grew up around firefighters! In 1990, when Bob was studying laser technology at Northcentral Technical College, he would pass the Wausau Fire Department every day on his way to class. He finally stopped in on a whim and asked what he had to do to get a job there. That afternoon, he dropped out of laser technology and enrolled in fire technology. While he was all fired up about his new career trajectory, his mother was less enthusiastic.
He then got a job with the Wisconsin Rapids fire department and stayed there for 25 years, so he was doing something right! Bob was deputy chief there in 2019 when he was recruited by the Wausau Fire Department, coming full circle.

Wausau organized the Volunteer Fire Department Company #1 in 1869 – almost 30 years after George Stevens (the namesake of nearby Stevens Point) established a sawmill there. They acquired a fire engine and hand pump and bought the building (a couple blocks away from its current location) for $980. Until Company #1 was up and running if anything in the area happened to catch fire…things did not work out well.
In fact, Bob says that in 1863 the Hotel America caught fire with everyone escaping with literally the clothes on their back. While nobody died, they lost all their belongings. Then in 1868 and 1869, both local sawmills suffered fires. Since the area was continuing to grow, that motivated residents to get Company #1 up and running that year.
We’ve come a long way in firefighting technology & technique, and the Wausau Fire Department currently has an impressive number of historical pieces from firefighting days gone by. From a 1904 Nott steam-driven fire engine to an early Peter Pirsch & Sons fire truck built in Kenosha. Due to their specific purpose, fire trucks (or apparatus, as they are known in the industry) are custom built and packed with every tool firefighters need to do their jobs. It’s like a Swiss army knife in truck form!
The trucks themselves vary by region, and sometimes by specific communities. A firetruck in the southwest doesn’t need heaters to prevent water from freezing. A truck in a community with high-rise buildings will need different equipment than one serving a rural area where two story structures are the norm. For the Wausau fire department, 90% of calls they get are for emergency medical services, so each truck features advanced lifesaving equipment – and all their firefighters are also certified paramedics.
If you’re driving in Wausau and you see a fire truck on its way to an emergency, it’s very likely nothing is burning – but they still need to help save lives. And once they’re out in the field, they can respond to another fire or EMS call without having to return to the station for new equipment or personnel. The fire department is there to help the community, which means they can take on almost anything: EMS calls, hazardous materials, water rescue, vehicle entrapment, and of course, fighting fires. The #1 call they get is for medical emergencies from falls – not fires! Bob’s tip for fall safety is to remove any little rugs you might have around your home (in front of the sink, bathtub, in breezeways) to make your home a little safer.

Since they must be able to mobilize as quickly as possible, Wausau currently has three fire stations: Station #1 is their headquarters located in downtown Wausau to serve as the main hub. Station #2 is on the west side along the Highway 52 parkway, close to a medical hub that features Aspirus and some other clinics, meaning they have many medical response calls. Station #2 is there because of Wausau’s westward expansion to solve the 17-minute response time Station #1 would have if they needed to respond to that area.
Station #3, built in 1981, is on Bridge Street, northwest of downtown. All three stations are currently expanding personnel – they have 15 members right now but want each crew to have 22 members with an 18-person minimum, which will allow for sick time and vacations. At Station #1, each emergency vehicle has two members always assigned to it, and if a call comes in the crew from any unused vehicle become support on that call. By expanding personnel, they hope to always have three people per vehicle. There are eight people in administration, covering all three stations: Bob, as well as the deputy chief and inspectors.
But enough about the amazing people who save lives ever day – let’s talk about fire trucks!

Bob splits the types of trucks into categories. Starting with “suppression” apparatus, Station #1 has Engine 1, a standard pumper whose twin is at Station #3, and Station #2 has a straight ladder truck (they refer to it as a Quint, and it’s a combination truck that features a ladder and pumping apparatus). Station #1 also has a 100-foot aerial ladder platform, used for any high-rise needs, as well as a reserve truck.

They also have five ambulances, a utility truck, and an air boat – all of which are managed by the deputy chief. If something goes wrong, it’s up to the deputy chief to handle it. And some of the things that might go wrong could be more important than you think! For example, an in-service ambulance is required by state mandate to have an air-conditioned patient compartment, so if the A/C malfunctions that ambulance is out of commission even if it’s a nice day!
Luckily, the Wausau Fire Department’s fleet department has certified Emergency Vehicle Technicians on staff! These individuals are fully trained in how to service the engines, tires, pumps, ladder apparatuses, lighting, electrical systems, and more. Emergency vehicles include so much state-of-the-art technology that these EVTs must learn how to repair, from specialized communication equipment to the Opticom system, that when the emergency lights are on, it sends a signal to traffic lights ahead of the truck’s approach, so the lights turn green for them!

Remember how all these fire trucks are custom built? The engineers work hard to make the EVTs’ jobs easier by using as many common parts as possible to make it easier to find replacements if something fails. They even stamp part numbers and specifications on the outside of all serviceable parts so the techs don’t have to find a manual to flip through. Being able to get parts at their local NAPA (just like we do!) keeps downtime to a minimum so their emergency fleet is always ready to go.
Maintenance of their emergency vehicles allows them to stay in service as long as possible. The National Fire Protection Agency oversees the specifications of all the fire department’s vehicles and equipment, and they have expected lifespans on much of the equipment. For example, they say a truck’s pumping apparatus has an expected lifespan of 10 years, and a ladder should last 15. Bob and his team expect more than what’s required, since you can’t just replace a $2.0M Quint truck every 15 years! Their team stays on top of repairs and maintenance, overhauling entire systems if necessary to keep the truck safely in service.
Bill wanted to know what firefighters do when the ladder truck can’t reach the upper floors of a building during a fire situation, and Bob mentioned that typically the ladder can reach up to the seventh floor. If you’re on the eighth floor and above, fear not! High-rise buildings are all reviewed to keep them in compliance with local ordinances for just this reason. All tall buildings have built-in pipes (you might see them in stairwells between floors) that the firefighters can pump water into to get the water all the way up to the floor below the one on fire. This allows them to fight the fire from just below without worrying about how to reach it!
Speaking of fire codes, that’s the reason stairwell doors need to stay closed – it blocks smoke and fire, allowing people to escape and firefighters to approach safely without allowing the fire to spread easily between floors. Buildings also have their own fire suppression systems (think sprinkler systems) that work well enough, so the firefighters don’t have to risk their lives. By the time they get to a building with a suppression system, the fire is already out!
Despite modern fire suppression systems making their jobs a little easier, Wausau Fire Department had their busiest year ever in 2022. 
Firefighters have their own set of labor laws, which includes a 56-hour work week. The crew in Wausau reports for a 24-hour shift, or “tour,” every day at 6am. They will work 24 hours, then have 24 hours off, and be back at work for another 24-hour tour. After five days (that’s three workdays and two days off) they have three days off before the swing starts again.

Shifts aren’t just waiting around for an emergency, though. The firefighters have local events, community outreach, public education events, equipment repairs and maintenance, and more training certification for fire, technical, and medical response. At around 5pm they lie down for as much sleep as they can get, but Bob says nobody ever gets to sleep through the night. When 6am rolls around, they can finally go home.
Since sleep is not something the fire crew gets at work, Station #1 does not have the traditional fire pole! Bob says the last thing a groggy fire fighter needs is a pole and a hole in the floor when stairs work just as well. He should know, too, since he keeps track of all the response times of the crew. For example, the EMS crew should be out the door within 60 seconds of a call coming in. The fire team has 80 seconds to be on their way to the emergency.
They have an efficient call system in place. Each type of call that would be answered by the different crews starts with a different tone that specifies EMS, Fire, Water rescue, Hazardous materials, and more – six different scenarios. During the day, all crews will get the alert. At night when they are sleeping, only the crews that are needed will get awakened to answer the call. The alert system’s automated voice will give specifics over a loudspeaker in each crew’s area, and a little red light on the speaker indicates which crew needs to answer the call. Once they’re out the door, they also have a specific goal for the actual response time.
An EMS call, for example, should have the crew on-site in 3-5 minutes in town or 10 minutes out in the country. However, if the local crew is already on a call, a crew needs to be dispatched from one of the other locations. At that point, a 10-minute response to an outlying area might become 17 minutes. That’s why the three stations are strategically placed to optimize response time to as many communities as possible.

Once they’re done with a call and back at the station, the crew needs to clean, re-stock, and get the equipment ready for the next call – which might come in at any moment! So, they quickly get to work restocking medical equipment that may have been used, checking over every part of the vehicles, cleaning, refueling, and servicing all equipment (pumps, chainsaws, computers, etc.) and making sure everything is ready to go, including their own protective gear. They also need to fill out reports in a timely manner.
It’s a grueling job where the crew is always on the move, supporting each other and playing to their strengths and those of their team. While it can wear on a person, they have a professional come into the station annually for what they call the “Neck-up Checkup.” Along with professional mental health help and evaluation, they are also establishing a peer support team so firefighters can talk with other people who have had the same experiences they have. Mental health is an important focus, as firefighters and paramedics are more likely to have suicidal ideation due to the stress and extreme experiences that come with this profession. The team should be able to go home at the end of their 24-hour shift happy and healthy.

Luckily, Bob says the Wausau community always shows the fire department tremendous support. When he talked about adding the extra personnel to bring each emergency vehicle up to three people instead of two, the community didn’t even blink. This is the first personnel increase since 1970. He wanted to thank the community and ask that anybody interested in firefighting pursue it wholeheartedly – especially in rural areas where they have volunteer fire departments and a great need to staff them. It’s hard but rewarding work!

Their most recent acquisition is an old 1904 Nott Steamer. Check out the video: