Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Tower Ladder 34 has been used to pluck people from a burning apartment building. It once came to the aid of a worker with frost-bitten fingers stuck high up on a cellphone tower.
But the tower truck’s days are numbered — at least at its current location with Engine Co. 72, 7982 S. South Chicago Ave. The ladder truck, which is equipped with a basket and can extend up 10 stories, is being moved to a new location as part of a wider plan to “consolidate and improve overall fire coverage on the South Side,” according to the fire department.
Two dozen or so current and former South Side firefighters — as well as some community activists — gathered in front of the firehouse Thursday to protest the truck’s removal.