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THERE
were some one-of-a-kind fire apparatus in the
American fire service extending back to early
years. They fit none of the fire apparatus
categories found in this chronicle. Some are from
Houston; some from other communities. But all were
unique in design and purpose. Whiskey
Barrel. Frosttown, a community across
Buffalo Bayou from Houston and of which
later was annexed by the city, used a
whiskey barrel as a fire apparatus ca.
1842. Wagon wheels
and a pulling tongue were attached to the barrel.
Around the top were hangers holding fire buckets.
The barrel was kept full of water. In the event of
a fire, the volunteers would race the barrel near
to the burning building and form a bucket brigade
to extinguish the fire. Manure
Wagon. Houston had a manure wagon in
the beginning of the fully-paid fire
department in 1895. It would make
the rounds of the fire stations daily, and the
firefighters shoveled on the waste and old bedding
of the horses from the day before.Driving the
manure wagon, no doubt, was not pleasant for the
firefighter who pulled the duty. Nothing could be
found in the archives indicating how one was picked
for the "prized" job. Who
Knows?. It's anyone's guess as to the
type of fire apparatus pictured. It was in
a parade during the 1954 International
Association of Fire Chiefs in Houston.
Whether it belonged to Houston or some
other fire department at the convention is
unknown, Sapper
& Mine. Most Colonial households and
businesses stored a barrel or more of gunpowder.
The gunpowder was used to remove stumps and other
obstacles when clearing land. In emergencies,
gunpowder was used to destroy buildings in the path
of rapidly spreading fires. Some volunteer fire
departments organized sapper & mine companies
to carry the gunpowder to a fire, although little
history remains of the rare fire companies. Later
sapper & mine companies carried magazines of
dynamite which had replaced gunpowder. There are
recordings of volunteer firefighters killed over
the years operating in sapper & mine companies.
No record exists of Houston volunteers organizing a
sapper & mine company. Rollagon.
Houston purchased a Rolligon in 1975 for
the Intercontinental Airport. It was an
all-terrain vehicle with tires 54 inches
tall and 68 inches wide. Crash rescue
firefighters had problems at several occasions to
reach victims of airplane crashes beyond the
airport. Much of the land was marshy covered with
dense brush. It would take
hours to reach the scene on foot. The new vehicle
could make rescues much quicker. Evidently it was
not too practical, because the vehicle disappeared
soon after. Big
Blow. A smoke removal unit nicknamed
Big Blow was built by the fire department
shop ca. 1980. It was mounted on a trailer
that was easily maneuvered to a large
window of a building. A cloth tube
funneled the air between the huge fan and a
building. The fan came from a damaged rescue air
boat. Light
Truck. A light truck was built by
Motor Repair to illuminate a fire scene at
night. It was not
really unique to the fire service, but was at the
time for Houston.
A
portable light rig would have to be begged when
overhaul after a fire extended throughout the
night. The light truck was built on a 1951 Ford
chassis. |
