| Picture No: | 7392 | Courtesy of: | Pete Matten | Year: | 2008 |
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1943 Dodge 82A Mobile Dam Unit
1943 Dodge 82A Mobile Dam Unit (GXM 542) of the National Fire Service.Built to Home Office specifications,this M.D.U. served in the South Buckinghamshire area with the N.F.S.during the war.It then passed to Buckinghamshire Fire Brigade before going into private ownership.It was finally purchased in 1984 and into preservation.
Through bomb and flame,they stood their ground,with just an axe,or branch in hand.
No thought for themselves,just others around,they gave so much,protecting our land.
As bomb after bomb,fell to ground,that terrible noise,that terrible sound. The young and the old,they all did their bit,those very brave firemen,sadly now many dead.
Many have gone,but will not be forgot,for all that they did,and much they could not
They all did their best,in our hour of need,those hundreds of firemen,a very brave breed.
We'll never forget them,and all that they did,to make this world better,and life better to live.
God bless the many,that have sadly now gone,we shall remember them,freedom and peace cannot be wrong.
Picture Added on 10 April 2008.
Comments
This was just one of the many simular mobile dam units urgently built during the war to supply fire-fighting water to blitzed areas.Built on a normal production chassis, the unit was fitted with an open crew cab shelter behind the driving cab (5 or 6 riders were the norm) and a standard dam unit fixed to the open truck deck.I beleave, just a standard portable pump was carried on
the rear of the vehicle, but as more trailor pumps came available, the mobile dam units would tow one.Equipment carried would have been delivery/suction hose and a small amount of firefighting equipment. These appliances though
were generally used for supplying water-not for firefighting.
Added by Pete Matten on 08 September 2008.
Your info definitely touches upon our current mode of operations here, in rural Canada. We have absolutely zero [0] feet of piped water supply in our rural area. To access the nearest municipal hydrants involves a ferry ride - not time-effective.
So, a number of the fire-fighters on our calls are involved solely in transporting water - just like this truck above.
In fact, if they are running the supply pump/Pumper at the river, lake or stream; and filling up the trucks on the Tanker Shuttle(which can be of several miles distance) - they may not actually see the fire-scene until it's all over....
Now, I take it that the Mobile Dam is an open tank fixed to the bed of this truck - it was parked; Portable Pump, suction hose and supply hose were rigged. So Relay Pumping was then carried out, with a chain of these, from water source, to fire-scene.
As your poem expresses so aptly; now, we are looking at their beautifully preserved truck, and just trying to get a sense of what its WW-2 crew had to cope with.
And their techniques still applicable today, viz: the 1989 San Francisco, USA earth-quake - for instance - ruptured many municipal water-pipes; and the SFFD had to revert to this water-supply method in fighting the resultant major fires.
It is nosey old me here, but I am sure that many Informed Readers are picking up on your info - both that and your terrific collection of fire engine photos, that you are generously sharing with us on the World Wide Web.
Regards, from Canada,
Pat_R-B
PS Not to forget all the other contributors, too!
Added by Pat Rivers-Bowerman on 09 September 2008.
Not to keep you madly pounding away on your computor key-board; but.....
What equipment and crew, did this truck carry ?
I think I see a separate Pump engine at the rear....
Picture 10491 has already quite some information in the Posts, from you and the other Informed Readers, on these units....
BTW, on Training Night out here, in rural Canada; our Pumper/Tanker's are fitted out, as direct descendants of all that was learned from these various war-time units.....
So, keep up "the good gen".
Regards, from Canada,
Pat_R-B
Added by Pat Rivers-Bowerman on 08 September 2008.