Fire Engines Photos

MLFD was my local fire department from 1983 to 2005, and ran some interesting and unique trucks.

The district had a very strong tax base and an all-volunteer service, which meant that there were always plenty of funds to spend on trucks.
Another reason was that everything was designed by the volunteers - for better or worse!

This was Company Two's ladder and was the first due aerial in the Strathmore section where I lived. Despite its size, it was remarkably manoeuvrable! We had very narrow, hilly streets with a lot of tight corners and intersections, and it weaved its way through the neighbourhood remarkably quickly when necessary. It had some fancy features, including tufted leather seating and full air-conditioning for the crew!

It shared the station with another monster - a Hendrickson-Firefly 150 foot aerial platform, plus a GMC engine and a Ward La France. The Firefly was mainly used to decorate the town Christmas tree - although I believe it was also "loaned" to FDNY occasionally, as they had nothing over 100 feet.

Added by Rob Johnson on 18 August 2013.

Hi Rob, I did photograph the whole fleet when I visited and had a demo of the Calabar Firebird. I'll sort them out.

Added by Ronald Henderson on 18 August 2013.

Ron - it seems you do get around!

There are a few Firebirds on this site already - they were of course called Firebirds not Fireflies, but you have to forgive me, it was quite a few years ago! And both of these names seem equally silly, don't they?

I think there were only two or three 150 footers ever built - the more common model was "only" 125 feet. Even the local Chiefs looked very red-faced when I asked them why they had a 150 foot platform, because the tallest structure for miles around was an eight-storey hospital which a 95 foot Baker Aerialscope could easily reach - and many neighboring departments (including FDNY) had these, along with 100 foot aerials.

I was never rude enough to ask anybody at MLFD what this thing cost, but a friend at Vigilant Fire Company in Great Neck told me it cost about twice as much as their Baker! Apparently, it was also quite often off the run and eventually had become a bit of a laughing stock amongst other Nassau County deoartments.

These two were eventually replaced by a mid-mount 95 foot platform, somewhat similar to a Baker, which I think may have been an E-One, and a 75 foot Crimson quint, which both seemed a lot more sensible.

Added by Rob Johnson on 19 August 2013.

It may be of interest that the aerial ladder and trailer were sold to the Hilton Head Island FD in South Carolina, in 1999. It was retractored with a 1999 American LaFrance Metropolitan model, and may still be in reserve service.

Added by Warren W. Jenkins on 15 September 2013.

Thanks Warren. I should not be surprised if the ladder is still around, because it certainly did not see much action when it was with Manhasset and it was always maintained in tip-top condition.

Added by Rob Johnson on 16 September 2013.

I recently revisited my old haunts. The District covers several communities with a total of 44, 000 population in a ten square mile area. It is an all-volunteer force with 255 members, operating out of five stations.

They handle around 2500 calls a year, of which 800 or so are EMN calls. A large number of the fire calls are automatic fire alarms, which very rarely turn out to be actual fires.

The apparatus fleet includes eight engines, three tower ladders, one rescue engine, one quint, two heavy rescues, three ambulances, one EMS first response SUV, five Chiefs' cars and three utility vans.

The Department also employs paid dispatchers and automotive technicians in addition to volunterrs. The EMS Company is rather limuited in scale, because EMS response is primarily provided in the District by Nassau County Police operating two full-time ambulances from the Sixth Precinct.

Membership of the volunteer force is very much a local tradition, and there are numerous families with two or even three generations serving in the Department.

My own experience of them, when I had a basement fire in my own house, was that response was quick and they did the right things. The first due engine had a crew of only three, with one elderly member able to hook up to the hydrant and then settle down for a long sit! So I helped stretch the crosslay to the rear basement door, but that was no big deal...

Added by Rob Johnson on 16 August 2014.

I saw this KW ladder truck in a book and liked it so much I built a 1/25 scale model of it. Anyone interested email me for photos. [email protected]

Added by Bill Ayer on 21 April 2018.

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