San Francisco Fire Department

[Aaronw]

Ford / Pierce / Crown attack unit

This was still in service as a special call unit in 2006, not sure about its current status. SFFD had 3 of these units, as I recall these were bought from Crown but built by Pierce.

 

 

 

[Aaronw]

Ford / Pirsch Air & light unit

 

 

[Aaronw]

Ward LaFrance hose tender. This unit carries a large amount of 5" hose (5000 feet as I recall) along with a number of portable hydrants.

 

 

[Aaronw]

Mass Casualty Incident Unit

 

 

[Aaronw]

American LaFrance Rescue 1

[Aaronw]

Ford Expedition Battalion Chief's Buggy

[Aaronw]

Medic unit

The SFFD took over EMS from the 3rd service Department of Public Health in the early 2000s

[Aaronw]

A pre SFFD EMS Department of Public Health medic unit

DPH had run EMS in San Francisco since the late 1800s.

 

 

[Aaronw]

One of the 2006 American LaFrance pumpers purchased in the historic SFFD Maroon.

 

I think these are really sharp looking engines and wish the SFFD had made the switch department wide instead of just this centennial purchase.

[Guest]

SFFD ran a different style of the two-piece engine company, a standard pumper with out a booster tank and a tank wagon, a concept that goes back to the days of horse-drawn equipment.  The steamer and hose wagon were combined into a dual combination rig, while the chemical wagon concept remained, evolving into the SFFD tank wagon.  It wasnt until the 1960's when SFFD starting purchasing triple combination pumpers.  The tank wagons were converted into other useful pieces of equipment, such as wagon batteries, foam carriers, salvage wagons, and rescue squads.  The 1956 Seagrave rescue is a classic example of this as is the 1950 Mack hose tender

[Bryce]

Seagrave Rescue truck

These carried a small pump and tank in addition to rescue tools

 

I have a book about SFFD written in the 80's where they talk about this rig. If I remember right, it was affectionately known as "Nellie Belly" and has a V-12 engine that was known to be able to power easily up any of SF's hills. I'm sitting at an airport right now, but will try to confirm this once I'm back home.

[wdho]

Last remaining in service attack hose tender - ATH 21

[wdho]

engine 1

[wdho]

Mobile Air 1

[wdho]

The old Seagrave in question is named Nellie Bell and is still fairly active in dept events such as parades and the toy program. I think I can speak for at least 90% of our dept when I say we are very glad we aren't using that purple color anymore. Not many in the dept like them.

[Aaronw]

The old Seagrave in question is named Nellie Bell and is still fairly active in dept events such as parades and the toy program. I think I can speak for at least 90% of our dept when I say we are very glad we aren't using that purple color anymore. Not many in the dept like them.

 

Well I think it looked sharp, but then again my taste in fire engine colors may be a bit skewed. I ride on a green engine and I think the SF water department scheme looks good.

[anesti]

Last remaining in service attack hose tender - ATH 21

 

 

how were these used??

[MFD76]

engine 1

So why does Engine 1 not have a real Federal Q2B siren. Looks like twin electronic siren speakers. The Q is a SFFD tradition. Thanks in advance for the information. 

[wdho]

The attack hose tenders are special called on greater alarm fires where we have gone defensive. Back in the day we had 3 of them in service all staffed. Now they are cross staffed by the engine company which it shares quarters with. They gave a more accurate reach on multi story buildings than the deck gun did.

[wdho]

MFD - the new Crimsons DO have the Fed Q but they are behind the bumper. That being said, engine 1 has recently had a new electric Fed Q installed. The plastic housing around the bearings keeps breaking due to the large call volume of code 3 runs that E1 get. The siren gets a helluva workout. The new electric one actually doesnt sound too different from the regular Fed Q. As the housing continues to go out on the other busy rigs [ 3 and 36 ], they will get replaced as well along with any other rig where the siren becomes problematic. Hope this answers your question.