Your volunteer Mahopac Fire Department members were not at home. They were at the Mahopac firehouse training on operation of the ladder truck. The careful control of powerful hydraulics takes time and concerted effort to develop this critical technique. Under the stress of an urgent rescue situation you must exercise constraint and expert control. Placing the ladder and bucket precisely at a window of a burning building to effect a rescue is no time for guesswork. Locating the ladder at the right place to allow firefighters access to a roof or escape an imminent collapse takes repeated training and practice.