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The Asbury Park Fire Department took delivery of a newly remounted Ladder Truck Monday.

The rig is dedicated to the memory of famous E-Street Band tenor sax man Clarence Clemons, Jr., Firefighter Robert Pasquariello said.

When the refurbished truck was delivered, Battalion Chief Gironda put in a call to Bruce Springsteen to see what he might like the truck to be named, he chose “The Big Man” after Clemons, Pasquariello said. Yellow lettering was placed Wednesday on the front of both sides of the truck that reads “The Big Man,” with a black tenor sax in the background [show at right].  

Springsteen donated the funds to purchase the original used 1969 Mack ladder truck in 2007, he said.

After six years of service, members of the department towed the rig out to original manufacturers Seagrave Fire Apparatus, in Clintonville, WI, in April of 2013 to be refurbished, Pasquariello said.

Gironda secured a $650,000 Assistance to Firefighters Grant, a federal program administered through FEMA, to pay for the remount, according to Pasquariello.

Under the grant program, municipalities are required to pay five percent of the total grant amount. The percentage was taken from a collection account of penalties issued to violators of the city’s fire code, so none of the vehicle’s costs were incurred by taxpayers, Captain Christopher Barkalow said.

An entirely new, base model truck would have cost about double the amount spent on the remount, Pasquariello said.

All parts of the aerial device are the same, but the motor, frame, body and cab are all new, Barkalow said.

Operating with one ladder truck left nothing behind in the department when the single truck went out on a call, Barkalow said. Off-duty firefighters can now staff the second truck if necessary, he said.

[Shown at left, from left to right: Firefighter Robert Pasquariello and Captain Christopher Barkalow.]

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