Here are a few Houston rigs from the past. First is Ladder 51(351), a 1976 Mack CF/Thibault, 100 ft./250/150.
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Rescue 1 was one of several 1979 Ford/Koenig rigs which were located around the city.
Engine 4 (204) was stationed at 16's until their new station was completed. This is a 1979 Seagrave, 1500/500.
Houston has multiple booster rigs located around the city. Booster 69 was a 1980 Ford/FD built, HP/250.
Last for tonight I have Houston Engine 25, which had a 1979 ALF, 50 ft/1500/500.
[quote name='biotelbob' post='155429' date='Oct 12 2007, 20:09 ']Last for tonight I have Houston Engine 25, which had a 1979 ALF, 50 ft/1500/500.[/quote]
<img src='http://www.firepics.net/groupboards/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/yourock.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='  ' /> What a great variety of apparatus! I really like the two American LaFrance TeleSqurts from Houston. (Cute picture of Engine 25 with the Dalmatian in it.) Looking forward to seeing more. <img src='http://www.firepics.net/groupboards/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='  ' />
[quote name='1961MackC95' post='155381' date='Oct 12 2007, 17:49 ']
1964 Mack C-95 1000/500; ex Arlington, TX and ex Everman, TX The second of a pair delivered to Arlington, TX, in the 1960s "Photographer Unknown" The Loftin Collection Lindsay D Richardson, TX Lindsay, I'm the unknown photographer that took this photo. I traded some of my apparatus photos with Steve loftin for some of his ambulance and fire app. photos back in the late 70's-early 80's sometime. I plan on posting soem of Arlington's old rigs in the near future and this is one of them. Robert.
[quote name='1961MackC95' post='155384' date='Oct 12 2007, 18:03 ']
1966 Mack Model C-95 Pumper 1000/500 #C95F-1449 ex Garland, TX "Photographer Unknown" The Loftin Collection Lindsay D Richardson, TX Here's another one of my photos I traded with Steve. Robert.
[quote name='1961MackC95' post='155386' date='Oct 12 2007, 18:09 ']
1966 Mack Model B-85 Ladder 65' MM ex Garland, TX "Photographer Unknown" The Loftin Collection Lindsay D Richardson, TX This is another one of my photos that I traded with Steve. Also, this and several other of my old Garland photos were published in their 2006 History/Yearbook. Robert.
[quote name='1949ALF' post='155433' date='Oct 12 2007, 21:04 ']<img src='http://www.firepics.net/groupboards/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/yourock.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='
' /> What a great variety of apparatus! I really like the two American LaFrance TeleSqurts from Houston. (Cute picture of Engine 25 with the Dalmatian in it.) Looking forward to seeing more. <img src='http://www.firepics.net/groupboards/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=' ' />[/quote]Glad your enjoying them. I have a few more of the telesquirts that I'll post soon. They're among my favorites also. When I showed up to take Engine 25's photo, that dog (their mascot, can't remember his/her name) was sound asleep in the watch room. When he heard the engine crank up, he shot outside thinkin he was missing a run. When he saw the engine park, he sat down where you see him in that picture. They said he actually did ride with them on runs back then. Think he may have had a lil ham in him...... Bob. 
That dog did ride to runs on the engine cover. Knew to lean based upon the direction of the turn. He has since passed away as is buried in a marked plot at Station #25. All the squrts are long gone, having suffered the indignity of having their booms removed first and running without them. These were purchased for areas with multiple family dwelling problems to provide a little extra "hitting" power initially. My Engine Co. had one for years and that boom helped more than once in SW Houston. They had air horns that would make you dizzy when you were standing in the jump seats.
The rig pictured, Engine Co. 25, saw more than its fair share of fire and held up well. This rig would end up with atleast 2 additional SCBA brackets on the boom cradle for all the riders this station had as they did a lot of R&D here for the department due to the fire volume. More than once they would leave hose on the ground at one fire to go 2 blocks over for another one. The '82 Seagrave 100' aerials had bodies by 3D and were all refurbed and repainted red eventually before going to reserve status for a while. All are now gone. Great photos and thanks for sharing them.
Larry Di Camillo
Fire Chief Stafford Fire Department www.staffordfirerescue.org Engineer/Operator Houston Fire Department Ladder Co. 68 "A" www.firehouse68.com 
Some disparate statements/questions...
Oh, to have had the Ward LaFrance sales franchise in Texas in the 1960's & 1970's. Must have made some people very well off! Can someone explain the popularity of the Booster concept in Texas during the 1970's? I know Dallas and Lubbock ran booster rigs, but I am unclear as to their purpose/criteria for response. Lastly, I've always noticed that on certain older Dallas rigs, the "mouth" of the B&M S8 sirens is shorter than some others. Does anyone know if this was a B&M feature, or if Dallas chopped them down for some reason?
The "Booster" concept, atleast in the Houston area, is one of a light, all wheel drive, versatile unit for brush/grass fire responses. In Houston they were manned units with an assigned Chauffeur everyday. The only runs they were "Dispatched" to where brush/grass responses and wash downs after being outfitted with spray bars. They often ran extra on box alarms on their own initiative on the District/Battalion level. This was very helpful as an aide to IC and for positioning a pick-up truck size rig between apartment buildings as that little booster tank made the difference until an Engine Co. could get a line around to them. Not uncommon to see them jump curbs, go thru fences, alongside apartment complex pools and thru courtyards to cover an exposure, etc.
Around 2000 we lost or Chauffeurs on them and they are now unmanned units cross-staffed by the in house Engine Co. where they are quartered. They are no longer dispatched on any runs per the CAD, but have to be requested or have the in house Engine Co. respond with it as a 2nd piece on their own initiative when they are sent on necessary type call. As a point of fact, many different types of vehicles/chassis have been used for Boosters with the pick-up truck chassis being the most successful with single tires and diesel engines. Very inexpensive (relatively speaking) and able to be beat-up regularly and come back for more.
Larry Di Camillo
Fire Chief Stafford Fire Department www.staffordfirerescue.org Engineer/Operator Houston Fire Department Ladder Co. 68 "A" www.firehouse68.com
When I was stationed at Dyess AFB in Abilene TX from 1983-86. We borrowed a booster truck (1978 Ford F-600 300/250) fom Abilene FD while our P-8 was at depot. From what I was told is that at one time Abilene ran the boosters on everything. In the early 80's a new chief came in from Michigan and from then on Abilene only ran the boosters as brush rigs. The concept was is that it saved wear and tear on the full-size pumpers. IIRC Abilene had a booster at each of the 8 stations in the city. Hope this answers some of the questions.
[quote name='Ladder 68' post='155607' date='Oct 13 2007, 16:12 ']That dog did ride to runs on the engine cover. Knew to lean based upon the direction of the turn. He has since passed away as is buried in a marked plot at Station #25. All the squrts are long gone, having suffered the indignity of having their booms removed first and running without them. These were purchased for areas with multiple family dwelling problems to provide a little extra "hitting" power initially. My Engine Co. had one for years and that boom helped more than once in SW Houston. They had air horns that would make you dizzy when you were standing in the jump seats.
The rig pictured, Engine Co. 25, saw more than its fair share of fire and held up well. This rig would end up with atleast 2 additional SCBA brackets on the boom cradle for all the riders this station had as they did a lot of R&D here for the department due to the fire volume. More than once they would leave hose on the ground at one fire to go 2 blocks over for another one. The '82 Seagrave 100' aerials had bodies by 3D and were all refurbed and repainted red eventually before going to reserve status for a while. All are now gone. Great photos and thanks for sharing them. Thank you for the interesting tidbits of info on these rigs. Robert.[/quote] |
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