A fast-moving fire in the Battlefield Park neighborhood destroyed a Jackson Fire Department ladder truck and damaged other equipment

JACKSON, Miss. — A Jackson Fire Department ladder truck was destroyed on March 27 while crews were battling an apartment fire in the Battlefield Park neighborhood.

Fire Chief ReSean Thomas told WLBT that Truck 28 is a total loss and will have to be replaced.

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The truck caught fire while crews were working to extinguish an apartment blaze on Guidici Street.

The fire was initially reported as a grass fire just after 11 p.m., but by the time firefighters arrived, it had spread rapidly, WAPT reported. The blaze extended into an abandoned apartment building, spread to one of the department’s ladder trucks and caused heavy damage to other firefighting equipment.

“When the wind shifted, it surrounded the apparatus and the crew on scene at the time,” Chief RaSean Thomas said. “They utilized their safety and training, which we use every day here at the Jackson Fire Department, to save their own lives, but they were not able to save the apparatus.”

Witnesses reported seeing someone at the abandoned building before the fire, and the chief said squatters are suspected in similar recent fires.

Thomas said the loss of the more than $1 million ladder truck will not affect operations, and another truck is being reassigned to the Jackson State University station.

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