The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-03-12
HAS SEEN ITS BEST BAYS
Old No. 1 Truck to be PensiOHed for
 Rest of its Natural Life.
FIRE DEPARTMENT ECHOES.

The fire commission at it's meeting last night decided to ask the common council for permission to purchase a new truck to take the place of the an- tique vehicle now in service with No. 1 truck company at Norman street in the West End. This vehicle has roll ed to more alarms of fire than any other piece of apparatus that has ever
 been in the department and is to-day despite its ungainly appearance and unhandinesS to meet later day de ] mands, a tribute to the character of
 the men who were building fire appa- ratus in the seventies.
 The truck was bought by Bridgeport 33 yearseago and took the place of Old Rescue Hook & Ladder Co.,, No. truck which was drawn by a single horse and located in John street The new truck was placed in No. 5 engine house in Middle street and was man ned by company known No. l truck Co. When the first aerial truck was purchased it was thought that the old truck would soon go into the scrap heap but she is in service to-day and the much heralded aerial truck is out of commission. Because of it's aSso- socia tionS with the early days of the fire department the old truck carried the company name No. 1 with it when lit was moved to Norman street to make room for the aerial truck and No. ? truck company in Middle street. No. 1 truck was built by Edward B. Leverich of Brooklyn. It was badly broken up once on Congress street bridge and has been rebuilt and re- modelled at different times to get down on modern lines as near as possible. The drivers seat has been lowered but all of the cutting down has not remov- ed the old time a la BuckSport, Maine aspect of the vehicle. But despite the appearance she represents one of the
 best s2.5Oo investments the city ever made
 Connected with the trucks history is little story of the first introduction of chemicals for fire fighting into | Bridgeport and the judgment of the | commissioners of the department st | that time is to be regretted The | trpck was sent here with a Holloway l chemical engine. Both came on trial and the commissioners decided they
 could not afford to purchase both the the | engine and the truck. The agent for | the truck settled the question by put | ting two Holloway chemical tanks on
 | the truck and furnishing 200 feet of | hose with it so the truck was pract1- l cally as we'll equipped 30 years ago as l s No. 2 truck company in Barnun av- 1 enue to-day. But the chemical at l +achments did not suit the firemen of l those days and in a short trme- the tanks were discarded
 1 While other cities all over the coun- I try were installing chemical apparatus Bridgeport remained prejudiced against 1t and for nearly 3O years coItliueu to put out fires with water exclusively. Chief Mooney who was a member of the department in those days had great faith in chemical apparatus and when he became the head of the de- nartment he lost no time in advocat- ing chemical apparatus with results which show that the city made a mis- take B years ago when it failed to give chemical apparatus a fair trial Applications for appointment to the department were received by the com nissioners last night from Charles De- Forest and William H. Brown.
 The firm of Coester Bros-, sent check of S10 to the Firemen'S Relief Fund in appreciation of the work of the department in putting out the re- | -ent fire in the cellar of their store at l Bulls Head. Either an electric motor | or a gasoline engine is to be installed in the departments machine shop