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HOSE
wagons became popular in Houston after a water
system was installed in 1878. Some of the volunteer
fire companies sold their steamers and bought hose
reels and hose carts. They were cheaper to purchase
than a steamer and had far less
maintenance. Hose wagons,
sometimes called hose carriage, carried the hose
snaked into the bed of the wagon. Hose played out
as the hose wagon went from a source of water to
the fire. The hose of the hose cart wrapped
onto a large wooden reel. The hose unwound from the
reel as the hose cart was driven from a water
supply to the fire. Hose
Cart. One of the early hose apparatus
belonged to Stonewall No. 3. It was called a
Preston hose carriage and pulled by two
horses. It
originally belonged to Liberty Fire Co.
No. 2 who purchased the hose cart after
its steamer was abandoned because of age.
Pictured ca. 1890 is Barney Moffitt in the
driver's seat of a hose cart. Some 1,200
feet of 2-1/2-inch hose rolled onto the reel of the
hose cart. When Houston went fully paid in 1895,
the hose cart and horses were bought by the city.
The paid company was called Stonewall No. 3. Other
volunteer companies had hose carts. Even Brooks No.
5, the chemical company, bought a hose reel in
1874, the same year it organized. The paid
department maintained a hose cart as late as 1915,
when "Old Reel" was manned at Fire Station No.
6. Hose
Wagon. Hose wagons were of two types:
plain hose wagon and combination hose
wagon. A plain hose wagon carried hose and usually
a couple of small ladders. A
combination hose wagon, in addition to
hose and ladders, had a pair of chemical
tanks and small chemical hose. The chemical
tanks furnished water to fight incipient fires. The
pictured hose wagon was assigned to central fire
station and sported a deck gun.
Plain
Hose Wagon. Pictured is the plain hose
wagon of Hose Co. No. 7 in 1915. It
carried only hose and ladders. A captain or
lieutenant, a driver and several pipemen rode the
hose wagon. Empty hose wagons would go to central
station to load up sacks of coal and distribute the
coal to the steamers.
Pictured
to the left is the hose reel of Hose
Company No. 6 ca. 1899. To
the right is the hose wagon of Hose Co.
No. 10 ca. 1911. Hose wagons
were decorated fancily for parades and other public
functions. Celebration of Texas Independence
brought out volunteer fire companies from across
Texas. It was very competitive, and each fire
company tried to outdo the others. Hose reels and
wagons seemed to get the most elaborate flowery
decorations. The rim and spokes of the wheels were
covered. A Fireman's Day parade probably resembled
today's Rose Parade. Pictured
is the decorated hose reel and hose wagon
of the Harrisburg Volunteer Fire
Department before it became a Houston
company. A
solemn use of the hose wagons was to take
a firefighter who made the supreme
sacrifice to his final resting place.
Pictured is the funeral cortege of Captain
Herman Wagner who was killed at the Stower
Building fire in 1912. A cortege
generally journeys past the firefighter's fire
station on the way to the cemetery.
Today,
pumpers are given the honor of
transporting firefighters killed in the
line of duty. Pictured is the funeral of
District Chief Lonnie Franklin who is
being carried from the church to an engine
for a final trip to the cemetery. He was
killed responding to a fire in
1983. TRIPLE-combination
pumpers took over the task of the hose
wagon in the early 1920s and relegated the
hose wagon to history. Pumpers carry their
own hose and water which combination hose
wagons had carried before. |
