The Hall has been in desperate need for additional storage space for several years.  Although the main building encloses over 50,000 square feet, including 35,000 square feet of galleries, there really was no more room for additions to the collection.  There was no room to store wheeled pieces of any size beyond the exhibit galleries, and the galleries had so many rigs that it was difficult for visitors to properly examine them.  There was no room to place some rigs in storage and rotate them back into the exhibit to provide new exhibits.  There was also no room for us to borrow pieces from other collections to put on display.  

In the Fall of 2007 a local resident offered to donate a 1924 American La France fire engine to the Hall of FLame.  he had purchased the truck during the early 1990s because his young son was an avid fire buff and enjoyed being driven around town in the old engine, which was in excellent running condition.   The rig had been in first and second line service in Pullman since its purchase in 1924.  In 1962 it was left outside during a cold spell and water in the pump expanded and cracked the housing.  The rig was sold to a member of the fire department, and he had driven it in parades over the next thirty years, keeping it in excellent mechanical shape.

The rig is a Type 45, a rare American La France model that is identical to the popular Type 12 with the exception of a triple ignition system in its six cylinder in line T-Head engine.  The model first appeared in 1915 but was not very common. 

Over its life the original chemical tank and hose basket or reel was lost, its battery box corroded away, and an electric siren was screwed onto the running board.  It original Dietz lanterns also were lost.  The chemical tank was replaced with an eighty gallon booster tank and a homemade booster line basket. It was repainted at least once.  

We have decided to leave the booster tank in place until we find a chemical tank.  We replaced the home made hose basket with a reel dating from the teens or twenties, and hunted up a couple of Dietz/ALF lanterns.  Original nickel plating has been polished back to excellent condition.  We have replaced the diamond plate matting on the running board and tail board.  Don is restoring the driver/officer seat, replacing only the cushions, which were beyond saving.  The engine will join the museum's collection of eight other American La France engines and aerial trucks.

Above:  After getting the rig off the flatbed trailer we parked it in the museum's lot.  The streamlined design of the truck is evident in this view.  The discharges and intakes of the 1,000 gpm Hale pump are hidden by a door.  Only the gauges and throttle control are visible.  The truck has a spacious sedan cab with two bench seats.  A driver, officer and two firemen fit with ease in the compartment.

We are indebted to the members of the West End Fire Company of Stowe, Pennsylvania for the donation of their carefully maintained 1948 Buffalo custom chassis fire engine in December of 2007.  Museum volunteer Mark Kauffman, who grew up near the Company, convinced the firefighters of the West End Fire Company that the museum would be a fine home for their rig.  The Company owned the rig for its entire life, adding improvements without changing the truck's great appearance.  The truck's original rear searchlights are among the many original accessories that the Company saved and shipped to the museum with the truck.  We plan to return it to its original a1948 appearance with the exception of its original Hercules gasoline engine, which was replaced with a diesel.  It was only arrival of a new engine in Stowe that required the department to find a new home for the truck.  Storing it outside was out of the question.

Above:  In side entrance of the Hall of Flame

In the autumn of 2007 we learned that the museum of the Fire Association of the State of New York in Hudson, New York was offering one of its hose carriages for sale.  The FASNY Museum has a world class collection of hand and horse drawn apparatus.  A new collection policy requires all of the objects in its collection to have been used in New York state.  This particular carriage was used in Philadelphia, PA.  When the Home Insurance Company Museum was disbanded in 1960 the carriage was donated to the FASNY Museum, where it was partially restored and placed on exhibit.  The museum wanted to sell the carriage to another museum where it would be available to the public.  A deal was quickly struck and we made arrangements to ship the carriage from New York to Arizona via the excellent transportation company called Horseless Carriages.

Volunteer fire companies often commissioned elaborate hose carriages to compete with other companies by having a beautiful rig.  While nicely decorated, they were fairly rugged pieces capable of carrying several hundred feet of hose.  Many companies also bought much more utilitarian carts which they called "crabs" to carry hose on a regular basis without putting wear and tear on the beautiful first line carriages.  

By the 1870s many companies were purchasing even more elaborately decorated "parade carriages" which were nominally capable of carrying hose but which were never used for anything but parades.  The Hall of Flame owns two parade carriages. This is our first hose carriage. 

The provenance of the carriage is vague.  It maker, W.W. Wunder of Reading, PA made an almost identical carriage for the volunteers of Boyertown, PA around 1880.  Our carriage's mirrors as well as two brass plates are labeled as the "Active" (Hose/Engine) Company of Philadelphia.  However, we have been unable to find any record of this company.  Philadelphia had a large number of volunteer companies between its establishment in 1736 until the end of its volunteer era in 1872.  As members of a Philadelphia volunteer company got older and retired  they were not replaced.  The company essentially was replaced by a new company of younger volunteers. We are looking for information about the piece's history in Philadelphia.  None of the Home Insurance Company Museum's records are available.  We estimate its date of manufacture as sometime between 1865 and 1870.  The professional Philadelphia FD did not use any hand drawn hose carriages, so it was not used after 1872.

As soon as Don Hale is finishes with his restoration of a 1924 American La France fire engine he will begin work on the hose carriage.

Above Left:  A view of the rotary gear pump installed in a 1930 rebuild by the Worcester FD.  The compartment below the seat contains a 30 gallon booster tank, also installed in 1930.

Above Right:  A view of the 477 cubic inch L Head Continental engine that was shoehorned into the engine compartment in 1930.

Museum member and volunteer Jeff Trevas recently donated his nicely restored one of a kind New England Truck Company hose truck once used by the fire department of Worcester, Massachusetts.  NETCO, of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, built commercial trucks between 1914 and 1938, including a few pieces of fire apparatus.  Jeff has done quite a bit of research on the truck.  It was built in 1916 on a Model F chassis as a hose truck for the Worcester Fire Department at a cost of $2,450.  Its original engine was a Continental straight four.  

Worcester is fairly hilly, and the truck had difficulty getting around town.  In 1930 the WFD completed an extensive rebuild.  They managed to squeeze a six cylinder Continental engine into the little truck.  They also added a thirty gallon booster tank below the seat and piped the water to a PTO driven 75 gpm  rotary gear pump.  They also installed a hose basket from a surplus rig and filled it with booster hose to supplement its 500 feet of 2 1/2 inch hose .  The truck was retired sometime during the 1950s.

Jeff has completed a fine restoration.  The truck is in excellent running condition.  

The wagon is very small and has an unusual hose body of perforated iron.  It is this hose body, together with a few other details, that provide convincing proof that the rig was used by Phoenix (see the black and white photo above).