1944 American La France Ladder truck by Richardphotos

Photography • Historical • posted on Jul 01, 2012

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Description

well, bakapo,mmitchell_houston, and gaius was right. it was the first aerial ladder truck at Mesquite,TX, USA by American La France of the newer design THE first aerial ladder in the United States was invented in 1886. Firefighters, before the aerial ladder, had to splice ground ladders together to access upper floors of the taller buildings. The operation was not always successful. Daniel Hayes, the superintendent of steamers with the San Francisco Fire Department, came up with a solution with an aerial ladder. It was a service ladder truck mounted with a two-section wooden ladder. The bed ladder of the aerial was raised by cranking a long screw which forced up the ladder. Extension of the fly ladder and rotation of a turn table were also done by hand. The truck was pulled by two or three horses. It was pulled by two horses and carried 165-feet of ground ladders, including a 45-foot extension ladder and two pompier ladders. The aerial ladder had a reach of 75 feet. No. 1 aerial ladder was listed as a Dahill-Hays aerial ladder in a report by the National Board of Fire Underwriters, and the bed ladder was raised "pneumatically." The name of the aerial was probably Hayes (spelled with an e), because Hayes was the only aerial ladder manufactured at the time. Also, the aerial ladder was probably not raised pneumatically, but rather had a spring-assist to raise the bed ladder. (Pneumatically-raised ladders had been tried but never gained popularity because of a need for special equipment at the fire station to keep the tanks filled with compressed air.) LaFrance was manufacturing the Hayes aerial ladder at the time and had introduced the spring-assist bed ladder the previous year. http://www.houstonfiremuseum.org/apparatus/aerial.htm

Comments (45)

Richardphotos

6:54AM | Sun, 01 July 2012

after research I found the above information.they had a sign on the trailer that it was the first aerial ladder truck circa 1944, but it must mean that was in Mesquite

stnaper

6:55AM | Sun, 01 July 2012

Awesome Pumper Firetruck and as always great photo I wish I was that good at taking photo's you should be proud Richard!

bazza

6:56AM | Sun, 01 July 2012

Nice looking old engine in beautiful condition.. Great capture.

Dreamingbee

6:57AM | Sun, 01 July 2012

wow Richard - so great and interesting photo !

dakotabluemoon

7:11AM | Sun, 01 July 2012

Oh i like this shot and i know what u mean when i clicked on this it said u had removed it but it is showing i have had that happen to me but i cannot see the pick when others do what is up with that.

magnus073

7:34AM | Sun, 01 July 2012

That is one super cool old ladder truck Richard, thank you also for providing so much information on it

flavia49

7:43AM | Sun, 01 July 2012

fabulous POV and capture

jayfar

8:04AM | Sun, 01 July 2012

A super shot and of interest to me being an ex firefighter.

barryjeffer

8:24AM | Sun, 01 July 2012

A most beautiful vehicle and your captured the depth of that red paint perfectly.

Maxidyne

8:29AM | Sun, 01 July 2012

I can only imagine the trouble they had with ladders back in those times, all that while under pressure to put a fire out. Excellent image and write up :)