The earliest form of organized fire protection in North America consisted of citizen bucket brigades. When a fire occurred, all able-bodied citizens would run to the scene with buckets. A double line would be formed from a water source and filled buckets would be passed up the line to the fire, where the contents were thrown at the burning structure. The empty buckets would be quickly passed back, via the second line of people, to be refilled.
The first fire apparatus utilized in the U.S. were hand pumpers that were built in England and shipped by boat to New York during the early 1700s. The hand pumper had long, parallel handles that required many volunteers to pump up and down rapidly, pumping water from the machine's tub. While the effectiveness of the hand pumper was limited by the volunteers' capacity to pump before becoming exhausted, these pumpers far exceeded the capabilities of the bucket brigades. American manufacturers copied and refined these machines for almost 100 years.
During the early 1800s, a revolution in firefighting technology took place with the development of the steam pumper in England. Steam was created by firing the boiler with coal. The power created was transferred to enable the unit to supply water to hoses. At first, volunteer firefighters strongly opposed the use of the steamer as it was perceived as a threat to their existence. The steam pumper could supply a continuous stream of water more effectively and with far less manpower than hand pumpers.
When steam pumpers were finally accepted into the American fire service, they were, for the most part, hand drawn by firefighters. The first use of horses took place in the 1850s and 1860s. This period coincided with the introduction of paid firefighters who were required to pull apparatus to the scene; consequently, these newly organized paid departments opted to use horses for this purpose. Lighter apparatus were pulled by two horses. Those that were heavier or that responded in hilly districts or in snow were pulled by three horses.
Another major change in fire apparatus design was a direct result of the establishment of paid departments. Early apparatus, because it was pulled to the scene by firefighters, had limited riding positions for personnel. There was never a reason for anyone to ride the apparatus - all personnel were required to pull it. Firefighters in the early paid departments were still running to fires, even though horses were pulling the apparatus. And they were running farther because there were far fewer aid companies than there were volunteer companies that had been replaced. In short, by the time firefighters ran to the scene of many fires, they were already worn out and needed to rest before starting firefighting operations. This was obviously an unacceptable situation and within a few years, apparatus were retrofitted with running boards and back steps to accommodate on-duty firefighters.
To provide a quick knockdown while steamers were being set up and hoselines stretched, as well as to extinguish small fires, the chemical unit was developed. These units carried tanks of bicarbonate of soda that, when activated by sulfuric acid, were expelled through small diameter rubber hose. Most were two-wheel units pulled by one horse, but four-wheel units were also used. Later, chemical equipment was installed on both hose wagons and even on some ladder trucks, providing this option for first-responding units.
The size and weight of horse-drawn apparatus had grown to the point where most horses running at top speed would begin to slow down after about a half-mile. Studies indicated that a motorized fire company could be operated at about one-third the cost of a similar horse-drawn unit. Like the introduction of steam pumpers, motorized fire apparatus was seen as a threat. Looked at as unreliable, subject to mechanical breakdown and unable to replace the beloved horses, it took several decades for the changeover to take place nationwide.
The year 1906 is generally accepted as the beginning of the motorized age in the American fire service. During that year, a pumper built by Waterous entered service with the Radnor Fire Company in Wayne, PA. This vehicle was equipped with two gasoline motors, one for propelling the vehicle and the other to power the pump. Also during this year, the Combination Ladder Company built a squad body on a Knox chassis and delivered it to Springfield, MA. The introduction of motorized vehicles revolutionized the fire service. Although there was some experimentation with both electric and steam propelled vehicles, gasoline propelled vehicles would replace the horses.
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