One of the busiest stations in the Columbia-Richland Fire Department is now home to a new firetruck.
Community leaders joined past and present CRFD members for a ‘push-in’ ceremony Monday March 3, 2025 to welcome the new Ladder 7 into our fleet. The ladder, which is a Pierce Ascendant 107 model, came onboard with the department in January of 2025.
Since then it has already ran a number of calls out of Station 7 and provided a major upgrade for firefighters working there. This year alone more than 470 calls for service have been handled by our North Columbia station. Over the course of 2024 Ladder 7 was dispatched more than 2,800 times.
While the firetruck primarily serves the Columbia neighborhoods of Cottontown and Earlewood, it also responds to incidents across Richland County.
The new ladder truck is equipped with a bucket on the end of its aerial. It also has the latest technology that can alert motorists when the crew is passing through their immediate area on a call.
Columbia City Councilwoman Tina Herbert, Richland County Councilwoman Paul Livingston and members of the Cottontown Neighborhood Association were among the honored guests to take part in the push-in. The tradition of ceremonially pushing in a new firetruck at a station dates back to the early days of the fire service when horse-drawn steam engines were used.
CRFD was also thrilled to have many of our retired members who worked at Station 7 take part in the event.
(left: Columbia-Richland Fire Chief Aubrey D. Jenkins with Richland County Councilman Paul Livingston & Columbia City Councilwoman Tina Herbert – right: past and present members of CRFD Station 7)
