MOTOR APPARATUS NOTES
A 1,000-pound chemical engine has been acquired by the city of Defiance, O. It has a speed of 55 miles an hour.
Mansfield and New Lexington are other Ohio cities that plan additional motor apparatus at as early a date as it can be procured.
The citizens of Medina, O., have demonstrated their belief in motor equipment by bonding the city for $12,000 to be applied to its purchase.
Another of three tractors ordered by the fire department of Memphis, Tenn., has been received and the last is expected to be delivered soon.
Fort Smith, Ark., has added a new station to its fire department and equipped it with a motor combination hose and chemical engine, recently delivered.
Chief Lewis Baldwin commands the Wabash, Ind., fire department, which has eight men, one motor chemical and hose car, a horse-drawn hose wagon and a horse-drawn ladder truck.
Celina, O., and Cedarville, O., have followed the fashion of the day through the State and installed motor fire trucks. The movement to motorize all fire departments has gained great headway in Ohio, this year.
The new American-La France motor combination hose and pumping engine, ordered some time ago for the fire department of Scranton, Pa., has been delivered. It costs in the neighborhood of $30,000.
Fort Logan, near Houston, Tex., is to be protected by four fire stations, three of which are already practically completed. All will have motor pumping engines and at least one chemical apparatus will be installed.
The new $5,000 motor fire truck arrived in Columbia City, Ind., in time for the District Chiefs’ convention. The visiting chiefs had the pleasure of riding around the city with Chief Henry Romey in the new truck.
The new picric acid plant near Grand Rapids, Mich., is to have a fully motor-
Bellefontaine, O., has submitted the water supply to laboratory tests and received a satisfactory report.
The board of works of Anderson, Ind., has signed a contract with the WallaceTiernan Company of Chicago, for the purchase of a chlorine gas apparatus to be installed at the city filtration plant for purifying city water.
Kankakee, Ill., has had a typhoid visitation that has been traced directly to the use of well water. All the wells in use have been tested and the health officer, Dr. C. K. Smith, has issued a warning against drinking any water that has not been boiled.
Delay in the shipment of sand and crushed stone is seriously hindering the work on the aeration and sedimentation basins that are being constructed by the city of Fort Worth, Tex., as a part of the extension of the filtration system of has just been let for a Seagrave 750-gallon motor pumping engine and for a tractor for an 85-foot ladder truck.
Bloomington, Ill., boasts of a first class motor equipment. A 75-foot aerial ladder truck, one 750-gallon pumping engine, one combination hose, chemical and ladder truck equipped with a booster pump— these three pieces of American-LaFrance make—one Seagrave combination hose and chemical, one Ford-Smith attachment hose truck and one Ford chief’s car.
Gloucester, Mass., has recently discovered that delays are dangerous. It is reported that the delay in closing a contract for apparatus which was authorized late in August, will prevent the city from getting it this year as the time limit on the contract has expired and the company which was to have had the order cannot now fill it for the sum voted.
With a population of about 5,000 the city of McPherson, Kan., has a motor fire truck and full line of apparatus, including two smoke helmets and a cellar pipe. A special alarm system rings bells automatically at the fire station and the chief’s and secretary’s places of business, enabling them to respond promptly to any call. The company consists of fifteen volunteers, thoroughly drilled and efficient, with W. J. Flick as chief.
Of the twelve companies constituting the South Bend, Ind., fire department all but four are completely motorized. The twelve companies are housed in nine stations. Chief Irving W. Sibrel has been in the fire service about twenty-five years and is keenly interested in fire prevention work. General inspections of the city are made under his direction twice a year. He finds that many of the fires in South Bend are due to the burning of soft coal, shingle roofs and high winds.
The city of Holyoke, Mass., makes a good showing of motor equipment, according to the latest report of the fire commistioners. Tljer^3epartment possesses four combination nose and chemical trucks, two hose r-.id pumping engines, two aerial ladder, trucks, one water tower, one hose trdck, one chief’s car and two deputy chief’s cars on which are hose boxes for 3,000 feet of reserve hose. These are supplemented by ample horse-drawn apparatus which will be motorized as soon as possible.
The Grand Rapids. Mich., fire department is equipping all hose wagons stationed in the outskirts with chemical tanks and an 85-foot aerial ladder truck is now being built for the department by the Couple Gear Freight Wheel Company of that city. The department is commanded by Chief George T. Boughner and the manual force numbers 187. Twenty-seven members of the department entered the national service, but most of that number have been replaced, leaving the department five men short.
The new motor equipment for the Anderson, Ind., fire department has been delivered. This is sooner than had been expected. The three combination cars are for companies 2, 3 and 4. The ladder truck, which will be housed at station No. 1, will come later. Some changes at fire station No. 1 will be necessary for the reception of the truck, as it is heavier than the horse-drawn ladder outfit, and the added weight will have to be cared for by strengthening the floor in the building. What with priority orders and a war time rush of business to contend with, it was not expected the fire apparatus would be delivered much before the end of the year.
Enough money was saved during the year from the salary fund and the horse account to pay for the leasing by the city of Hartford, Conn., of three triple combination engines. The fire commissioners pointed out the economy of a motorized department over a horse-drawn, by a comparison of the entire expenses of the department for the five years preceding and the expenses after partial motorization. This showed a steady decrease in cost of upkeep as motor equipment was substituted and that when the department is fully motorized the annual saving will so exceed the depreciation that an additional piece of apparatus can be bought every year and the city will be financially ahead.
Chief Hugo R. Delfs has still in use at Lansing, Mich., the first motor pumping engine placed in service in this country. It has a Webb pump and an Oldsmobile motor, and will be ten years old next December. Since first placed in use it has been rebuilt, being changed to a chaindriven car, but it still has the original motor and pump, and recently pumped 655 gallons per minute from a hydrant with a 2j4-inch opening. The Lansing department will now shortly become completely motorized when a Seagrave 85foot aerial ladder truck is delivered and placed in service. This is expected i> November. There are five stations and the first motor pumping engine, now at central station, is to be transferred to No. 3 station, when each of the five stations will have been provided with a pumper. The department has three combination hose and chemical cars in reserve.
The fire commissioners of Richmond, Va., said, in their annual report: “Beside its superior efficiency—one motor company answering about twice the number of alarms that a horse can and in greatly reduced time—enough will be saved in maintenance, as compared with horsedrawn apparatus, to pay for the extra initial cost in a very few years. In addition, every piece of motor apparatus added to the department increases the man power. For instance, every horse-drawn engine requires a driver, an engineman and a stoker, while the motor fire engine needs only one man, who drives the machine to the fire and runs it after it arrives there. The saving is not so great ir, the chemical engine and hose wagon, but its efficiency is of first consideration and its upkeep cost is only nominal, being about one-tenth the cost of the horse apparatus. The horse eats whether he is working or not and the motor consumes only when it is working. But, above all, don’t overlook the increased efficiency of the motor. . In no business has the motor been such a boon as to the fire departments.
