Lucius Beebe Memorial Library, Wakefield, Mass.

Title

Ladder 1, 1928

Description

"Driver Henry Russell, Chief Fred Graham and Tillerman Harry Parker (on the rear tiller) displayed Ladder 1 near the old fire station shortly after its arrival in Wakefield. The Town purchased its first aerial truck in 1928 and put it into service in December. Touted as the area's first aerial, the double-bank 75-foot truck was purchased from the Seagrave Company at a cost of $15,500. According to the 1928 Town Report, 'this machine is of the latest type having several new features which serve to increase the efficiency of same.' It was equipped with a 'water gun having a 3-inch hose,' a 75-foot, two-section wooden ladder with a spring-assist raising mechanism, and 304 feet of ground wooden ladders. The truck had an 80-gallon water tank with 200 feet of 3/4 inch booster hose, and a 75 gallon-per minute pump, as well as a life net, stretcher and an oxygen tank for 'resuscitation work.' The 1928 Seagrave replaced a 1914 Peerless city service type ladder truck that was subsequently sold by the Seagrave Company to Pascoag, Rhode Island for a cost of $1,600. Ladder 1 was taken out of service on June 15, 1954 after it was involved in a collision with Engine 5 at the corner of Pleasant and Lawrence Streets. Both pieces of apparatus were responding to n alarm from box 423 for a fire at 35 Lawrence Street, and both were declared losses. American LaFrance loaned Wakefield a 1932 Mack 85-foot aerial ladder truck that had been previously owned by the Bangor, Main Fire Department. A new American LaFrance 85-foot ladder truck was put into service in May 1955."

Image from the Wakefield Municipal Gas and Light Department annual calendar, 2017

Photo and information from the collection of the late Murray Young, courtesy of David Parr

Contributor

Institution: Lucius Beebe Memorial Library

Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department (Wakefield, Mass.)

D'Onofrio, Jayne M.

Coverage

Massachusetts--Middlesex (county)--Wakefield

Date

1928

Format

image/jpeg

Publisher

Wakefield, Mass. : Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department

Subject

Fire prevention

Fire departments

Type

still image

Photographs

Original Format

1 picture: b & w

Extent

32 x 17 cm.