When a fire truck fails to deploy in a burning building and four people die, the cause isn’t just mechanical failure. It’s a business model. On the night of June 26, 2025, firefighters on Tower Ladder 14 raced to a Chicago apartment building where an arsonist had poured gasoline on both stairwells. When they arrived, the aerial ladder would not go up. The crew had to shut the rig off entirely and restart it. The delay lasted approximately one minute. Four people died that night — including a pre...