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Water
towers made their debut in the American fire
service in the early 1900s. They had a tower that
was raised and poured large quantities of water
into upper levels of burning buildings. The
National Board of Fire Underwriters had rebuked
Houston in the early days of the fully paid fire
department for a lack of heavy stream appliances.
Responding to the rebuke, the fire department
purchased its first (and only) water tower in
1912. The new water
tower, which cost $2,000, was assigned to central
fire station. The tower was
a 65-foot American Automatic patent, built in 1912
by Americsn-LaFrance Fire Engine Company of Elmira,
NY. This was the 7th of 18 American Automatic water
towers that American-LaFrance built between 1909
and 1938, and the last horse-drawn water tower of
any make ever built in America. The water
tower could pour 7,000 gpm of water to the height
of a nine-story building.Nine 3-inch inlets
provided water both for the tower nozzle and a
turret pipe mounted on the wagon platform. Nozzle
tips ranged in size from one-and-three-eighth
inches to two inches. The
tower was raised by cranking wheels at the
base of the tower. Two long tormentor
poles (pictured) braced the tower against
kickback when the nozzle was flowing
water. The
rig weighed 20,600 pounds and was pulled
by three horses. In
1918, a Federal gasoline tractor replaced
the horses to power the water tower.
Houston was easing out the fire
horses. The tractor
hooked to the rear of the water tower. A steering
mechanism was added to the rear wheels (originally
the front wheels) for a tillerman to guide the rear
of the tower. A stationary
two-wheel American-LaFrance Type 31-6 tractor,
serial #4154, was installed in 1923. This made a
single chassis, but the tiller position was
retained. The water
tower was a slow, lumbering apparatus. It took some
time to navigate to a fire, and then more time to
raise the tower and get water flowing. The newer
steel aerial ladder trucks with ladder pipes were
beginning to take the place of the water tower at
fires. They could get to a fire and have a ladder
pipe in operation much faster than the water
tower. Pictured
is the tower raised at the Cohn Furniture
fire in 1946. Plenty of hose lines are in
operation, while the tower still struggles
to get its tower nozzle flowing
water. It was retired in
late 1940s and the deck guns
removed. The
water tower was refurbished and repainted
in 1959, and the deck guns were repainted
and remounted. In 1963. The tower was back
in active service. The
flow from a ladder pipe from the steel
aerial ladders did not have near the
volume of the water tower nozzle, but
several aerials could equal the flow of
the water tower. Both the 85-foot and
100-foot aerial ladders had a higher reach
than the water tower. The water tower was
used less frequently at fires. The
final blow for the water tower came in
1966 with the arrival of two snorkel
trucks. Snorkels had a large articulating
arm with a platform attached to the upper
end. A large nozzle mounted on the
platform could pour almost as much water
into upper floors of burning buildings as
the old water tower. The ancient fire
apparatus faded into history.
Today,
the water tower is a prized feature of the
Houston Fire Museum. It will be on
permanent display after the new Fire
Museum opens on Main Street at
Hadley. |
