possible origin of the fire truck... a Roman extortionist

In the early days of Rome a real estate investor/ extortionist named Crassus used a team of firefighters in an effective scheme. There was no public firefighting service at that time, so when a building was on fire, Crassus and his team would show up with their water pump. Before fighting the fire, Crassus would make a very low offer on the building, and to neighboring building owners. If the owners refused, Crassus let the building burn and spread to neighboring buildings, and would later make an even lower offer. If the owner agreed to sell the property, the firefighters would try to put the fire out. Crassus became very wealthy with this scheme, owned a good portion of the city of Rome, bought his way into political office, and ruled Rome as Triumvirate with Pompey and Julius Caesar.

found on http://patentpending.blogs.com/patent_pending_blog/2005/06/the_fire_truck.html

The Rolls Royce of fire engines, the Ahrens Fox

Photos from, and found on http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2014/03/06/hemmings-find-of-the-day-1928-ahrens-fox-n-s-4-fire-engine/

Stutz made fire engines! That is a rare cool item, and one is for sale

The Stutz High Duty Fire Engine Company came to life in 1919 when A.C. Mecklenburg & Harry Stutz came together to form a new firm to build fire apparatus from Indianapolis, Indiana. With both of their skills of building and selling fine automobiles, the idea of building a strong machine that would not break at the crucial moment when it was most needed came to be. The first pumper was tested in late spring 1919, and by June of 1919 was entered to compete against other fire apparatus manufacturers at the International Association of Fire Engineers in Kansas City, MO. This competition included American LaFrance, White, Ahrens-Fox, Seagrave, and Mack just to name few. Not only did they do well in the 12-hour run performance by taking top honors, they were noted for having the lowest motor pump speed among all exhibitors at only 1,130 rpms and low hose pulsation. It was the only pumper of all eight competitors to finish with a perfect score! The new advertising read “Made Good In a Day!”



the St Louis Car Museum is selling off a lot of vehicles. http://www.stlouiscarmuseum.com/stlcarmuseumtemplate.asp?id=1891

Seagrave Safety Sedan, restored by the Detroit fire dept volunteers, to be used as a fire dept hearse

I remember finding out about this a couple years ago, but was unable then to find anything out about it.
These images are found on http://www.flickr.com/photos/sjb4photos/8061362709/in/set-72157627006001214/

Fire fighting is a dangerous feat, and in the 1920s it was far more difficult, and hard to see, so firemen had a portable generator and flood light rig made

 a mobile generator 10kW, five kilowatt lamp stationary and portable eight, 400 watt. Plus 500 feet of wire for these remote spotlights

Found on http://strangernn.livejournal.com/865110.html

North Las Vegas Fire Dept is going to try to restore an old fire truck

found on http://sundayslacker.com/2013/09/22/save-fire-truck/