| Hamden Fire Retirees Association, Inc. |
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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2014
Website is updated every Friday - Important interim updates will be posted when necessary
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| CLICK to monitor HFD radio |
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Taking it easy this week. All photos. Lots of photos.
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This 1912 American-LaFrance city service ladder truck from Southampton, NY was the star of
the 2014 Engine 260 Muster held last Saturday.
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Speaking of Ladder Trucks . . .
The photo below by an unknown photographer was taken at the Water Witch Hose Co. No. 2 of the New Milford Fire Department. This 1941 Diamond-T city service ladder truck was purchased new by Hamden from Woods Engineering Services in 1941. It served as Hamden's "Ladder 1" out of the Humphrey station (Co. 2) until it was replaced by the 1958 Maxim 75' "Junior" aerial ladder truck. It was then stored as a spare in the north bay at Mt. Carmel. The boat mounted atop the truck was added after it was sold to New Milford in April 1963 for $2,200.
After serving New Milford, the truck was purchased by Co. 8 member Ken Lewis, who stored it at his Dunbar Hill Road home with two other Hamden Diamond-T pieces.
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| Photo courtesy of by Chan Brainard |
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In the 1961 photo below by I.A. Sneiderman, the 1941 Diamond-T ladder truck can be seen in the background in the north bay of the Mt. Carmel station as several volunteers examine a Scott airpack. Co. 5 member Anders Pederson is at the left. The three guys in the middle, Russ Smith, Bill Scott and Bill Davin (partially hidden), all became career department members in the mid-1960s.
HFRA meber Bill Davin completed thirty years with the department in 1995. Smith and Scott left for jobs in the private sector. The gentlemen at right is Co. 5 president Raymond K. Spencer, who joined the Mt. Carmel company in 1925 and remained a member until his passing in 1995. The annex built in 1975 was dedicated in his memory during the company's Centennial Celebration in 2011.
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Below was how the truck looked when it was parked at Quinnipiac College for the 1986 Hamden Bicentennial Fire Muster, which took place where the law school building was erected in the 1990s. The exact whereabouts of the truck in 2014 is not known.
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30 Years - Saxony Coat Company
Saturday, September 15, 1984
CLICK PHOTO
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| Saxony Coat Company Burned 30 Years Ago This Week - CLICK for news articles and photos |
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Bill Brainard took these three photos of Hamden fire apparatus up on Kaye Vue Drive sometime in the mid-1960s. The nature of the call is not known. The 1965 Mack was Engine 4. The 1959 white Maxim "cab-forward" (below) was Engine 2. Hamden's only ladder truck was the 1958 Maxim 75-footer. The rescue unit - it's hard to tell whether it's R1 or R2 - was an International Travel-al.
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Hamden's flirtation with white apparatus began in 1958, but was short-lived. The three white pieces in these photos, plus the other rescue and some staff vehicles were the only white vehicles purchased before the department returned to red with the 1965 Mack.
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Bill Brainard, who lives in Warwick, Rhode Island, is the brother of longtime HFRA contribtor and honorary member Chan Brainard. Website thanks go out to Bill and Chan for these photos.
Posted 9/12/14
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