Getting to retirement in the fire service isn't always easy. Lt. (Ret.) Linnea Anderson reflects on her experiences with MFD and shares what she learned about maintaining a healthy balance for a sustainable career.
Station Eight
Fire Station 8 is located on Lien Road on Madison’s east side near East Towne Mall.
Fire Station 8 was previously located on North Street until 1990. Old Station 8 was staffed with eight firefighters. It is currently owned by retired firefighter and unofficial MFD historian Mike Fuss.
The current Station 8 is a double-company house, staffed daily with eight firefighters and two firefighter/paramedics who work 24-hour shifts.
Station 8 also houses equipment for the Department's Heavy Urban Rescue Team (HURT). HURT is trained for technical rescues that may include incidents involving confined spaces, trench collapse, building collapse, or high-angle rope rescue.
Equipment
- Ladder 8 – Madison's first platform truck is a 2014 Pierce Quantum Aerial Platform with a TAK4 suspension featuring a 100-foot aerial platform ladder with water tower. The bucket gives firefighters a safe working area to perform rescues and roof ventilation operations as well as other firefighting activities. It also carries ground ladders, has a 1500 gallons-per-minute pump with 300-gallon booster tank, attack and supply fire hose, ventilation equipment, hand tools, and extrication equipment. Ladder 8 also carries battery-powered HURST e-DRAULIC extrication tools and emergency medical equipment including a defibrillator, oxygen, and immobilization gear.
- Engine 8 – a 2021 Pierce Enforcer Volterra Pumper, the first zero-emissions electric fire truck in service in North America. It has a 1500 gallons-per-minute single stage pump, 500-gallon water tank, and 150 cubic feet of compartmentation, plus ladder storage. Engine 8 also carries ground ladders, fire hose, and tools. Additional EMS equipment is also carried on board to be utilized by the crew. This apparatus is on loan to the Madison Fire Department in collaboration with Pierce Manufacturing.
- Medic 8 – a 2018 Demers ambulance with a Ford E-450 chassis. M8 provides advanced life support for the greater east side of Madison and may be called outside the city to assist with higher acuity incidents. It carries a full complement of advanced life support medicine and equipment including a cardiac 12-lead defibrillator, oxygen, and immobilization gear. To aide in patient and paramedic safety and comfort, it operates with a Stryker power-loading cot and liquid shock suspension system.
- Squad 8 - a 2005 Quantum chassis, Detroit Diesel Series 60 455HP engine, breathing air, command station, receiver hitches on all sides with 9000-pound winch, storage for plywood and struts in rear, cribbing compartments, TAK-4™ Independent Front Suspension, Command Zone #8482; advanced electronics system, "L"-shaped desk with hinged top dry erase board, 15" LED flat mounted TV monitor on swivel bracket. Pelco video observation system, half-width compartment in hatch compartments for storage of cascade bottles on top, Cascade system, two Wilber 9000 Night Scan light masts, and four electric cord reels.
Daily Staffing
- 2 Lieutenants – Station officers, one on the Ladder and one on the Engine
- 2 Apparatus Engineers (driver) – one on the Ladder and one on the Engine
- 4 Firefighters – two on the Ladder and two on the Engine
- 2 Paramedics on the ambulance
Station 8, located on the city's east side, proudly claims the name "Beast Of the East."