Fire Engines Photos

The Fire-Chief's Buggy.... with a fine, high-stepping carriage-horse in the shafts, this rig conveyed "The Chief", in an impressive uniform, to-and-fro on his daily business; and most importantly, to the fire-scene, at all hours of the day, in a large city.

In the pre-automobile days; that was all this rig had to transport... except maybe "A Commanding Presence" and a powerful set of lungs for operating the "sound-powered" brass speaking-trumpet of the day...that was your Command Centre, Field Operations Post, ICU, etc..

Think Chief's Car, Senior Officer's Transport, without the radios, computors, Personal Protective Equipment, paper-work, etc

Incidentally, this carriage may have survived the 18 April, 1906 Great San Francisco Earth-Quake [estimated Richter Scale 7.8] and Great Fire.
The SFFD Fire-Chief did not - Dennis T. Sullivan was killed in the 'Quake; and his loss robbed SF of vital leadership in fighting the ensuing terrible fires.

Regards, from Canada,
Pat_R-B

Added by Pat Rivers-Bowerman on 10 February 2010.

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