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And only if you're also about 40 years behind ladder tech - notice the stepladders in the "A view of the main repair facility" photo? They're nonconductive fib

And only if you're also about 40 years behind ladder tech - notice the stepladders in the "A view of the main repair facility" photo? They're nonconductive fiberglass. They're stronger than wood, lighter than wood, don't need to be oiled/varnished, don't require cutting down old-growth trees, and aren't susceptible to moisture damage. You can buy them exhaustively tested, mass produced, in whatever quantities you require for a couple hundred dollars - probably an order of magnitude less than these artisanal wooden ladders.

kec 8y ago
Can fiberglass ladders be refurbished and used for decades, or do they weaken and need to be replaced as the epoxy ages? Does the cost of replacement outweigh the cost of refurbishment? How about the aluminum cross braces of your fiberglass ladder, how do those hold up in the high heat of a structure fire? What does that do to service life?
reaperducer 8y ago
>They're nonconductive fiberglass They're also not being used right next to flames. Yes, fiberglass can be made that won't buckle under both weight and heat, but not at the same price point as wood.
- zrobotics 8y ago
  Because wood reacts so well to fires?
  - yjftsjthsd-h 8y ago
    Oddly, yes. Sufficiently dense wood takes a lot to ignite and burns quite slowly, and I assume they coated it to make it even harder to get started.
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pm24601 8y ago
I would bet another advantage of wood is they fail gracefully. From article: "We had one ladder here that was fully involved in a fire for 25 minutes, and the whole tip of it—six feet—was crispy. It looked like a log you pull out of a campfire," Braun says. "That can't go back in service but we were curious, so we put a new halyard [rope used to hoist ladders] on it for a load test. Even in that condition, it passed."
- inferiorhuman 8y ago
  Yep. That's one of the reasons wood also makes a great construction material.

kec 8y ago

Can fiberglass ladders be refurbished and used for decades, or do they weaken and need to be replaced as the epoxy ages? Does the cost of replacement outweigh the cost of refurbishment? How about the aluminum cross braces of your fiberglass ladder, how do those hold up in the high heat of a structure fire? What does that do to service life?

reaperducer 8y ago

>They're nonconductive fiberglass They're also not being used right next to flames. Yes, fiberglass can be made that won't buckle under both weight and heat, but not at the same price point as wood.

zrobotics 8y ago
Because wood reacts so well to fires?
- yjftsjthsd-h 8y ago
  Oddly, yes. Sufficiently dense wood takes a lot to ignite and burns quite slowly, and I assume they coated it to make it even harder to get started.

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pm24601 8y ago

I would bet another advantage of wood is they fail gracefully. From article: "We had one ladder here that was fully involved in a fire for 25 minutes, and the whole tip of it—six feet—was crispy. It looked like a log you pull out of a campfire," Braun says. "That can't go back in service but we were curious, so we put a new halyard [rope used to hoist ladders] on it for a load test. Even in that condition, it passed."

inferiorhuman 8y ago
Yep. That's one of the reasons wood also makes a great construction material.