Ford C Series Chassis Fire Apparatus

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Not sure who may have built this unit, but it appears to be a high-pressure fog pumper.  For you younger folks, the use of high-pressure fog for fire attack was a tactic that was big in the late 1950's into the mid 1960's and was developed and promoted by Lloyd Layman who was the "father of indirect attack".  This tactic worked well when you only had ordinary Class A combustibles burning, but the BTU production of burning plastics and other synthetic materials eventually negated the ability to fight a structural fire with booster lines because the volume of water fog needed to overcome the BTU production could not be achieved with the small diameter booster hose.

 

There were a number of apparatus manufacturers who offered high-pressure pumps during that time (either as the primary pump or as an auxiliary to the centrifugal pump) with John Bean/FMC being one of the more prominent apparatus builders.  If you look at the booster reels, it appears that they all have John Bean fog guns for nozzles.

 

Thought this would be a good way to revive this thread!

IIRC, that rig was a Maxim and Hannay Reels used it in its advertising.There were a total of six reels on borad.   I used HPF on many fires, but never on interior attack.  If the PO did not watch what he was doing, the pressure could creep up to 800 PSI, making it difficult to open the nozzle.