Rescue Ops

Ok, so tell me I'm stupid for thinking this:

on the local news tonight, there was a "breaking news" story about a car that drove into the lake. It was quite shallow where the car settled, but it was still fully submerged. The driver had to be rescued from the car by onlookers and witnesses that dove into the lake to free the man. There was some resuscitation efforts on the dock where they pulled him out from the water.

All of this was caught on camera by the hovering news helicopter. They showed the EMT staff load the injured man and push the gurney along the dock towards the awaiting EMT/ambulance vehicle parked on the narrow roadway.

What caught me as funny was the fact that they had to wheel the gurney quite a distance to get to the ambulance. There was a long fire-engine ladder truck parked in the way and the ambulance was on the far end of the ladder truck.

Why the heck was there a ladder truck there? Was the 9-1-1 dispatcher not clear and concise when describing the emergency? Did they say "a car drove into the lake" or "a car drove up a building and needs rescuing"? Do the fire station folks always drive out in tandem, eg. a ladder truck and an ambulance? Did they get some training time out of the exercise?

A car drove into a lake. Send a ladder truck.

No offense to any of you folks in the EMT business, but watching this little episode unfold on tv was just too strange.