Fire Engines Photos

The unit in the center is a hose wagon from the Veteran Fire Company located in Long Island City, Queens.

The ornate silver drum contains hose, which can be played out as the wagon is moving. The ropes at the front indicate that this unit would be pulled to the fire by the volunteers rather than being horsedrawn.

The pumper is to the right, partly out of the picture, but we can see the levers which were operated by large teams of volunteers standing on each side. Typically, these teams were rotated every few minutes because the work was exhausting, so an engine company which needed forty men to man the pump could easily have a hundred and twenty or more members.

One reason steam pumpers took so long to replace manual pumps like this was that city politicians loved the voting power of these large volunteer organizations and (to quote) "steam fire engines can't vote".

Added by Rob Johnson on 13 August 2017.

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