BlueBrixx Seagrave Aerial Scope Red/White Set 102727

BlueBrixx's Seagrave Aerial Scope in red and white is a BlueBrixx-Specials model built from 781 blocks, in the colours of the Fire Department of New York. Bricks by Qunlong. No stickers or printed parts. Age 14+.

It is a platform, not a ladder

The distinction matters and it is what the word Scope refers to.

A conventional aerial ladder is exactly that: a ladder that extends, and a firefighter climbs it carrying whatever he can hold. An Aerial Scope is a telescoping boom with a steel platform on the end — a bucket — that lifts several people, their equipment, a water monitor and, crucially, a casualty who cannot climb down.

New York has favoured platforms over ladders for decades, and the reason is the city itself. Tenement fire escapes, ornamental ironwork, air conditioners bolted to windows and overhead wires are all things a ladder must be threaded past. A boom reaches over them and puts the platform where it is needed, and the operator can reposition without anyone climbing down.

A platform also solves the worst problem in an aerial rescue: an unconscious or panicking person cannot be carried down a ladder by one firefighter. Into a bucket, they can.

The trade-off is weight and cost. Truck companies that need reach across a wide frontage still prefer a ladder; New York, working in narrow streets against tall buildings, went the other way.

In the BlueBrixx range

Set 102728 is the same appliance in red and black.

Specifications

Pieces: 781 · Series: BlueBrixx-Specials · Age: 14+ · No stickers