The American Fire Engine

Book excerpt: Delicious red paint and sparkling gold leaf on swoopy fenders, leather helmets and barking Dalmatians, screaming sirens and high-speed dashes to roaring flames-the business of firefighting is steeped in high adventure, danger, and heroism. Firefighters and their trucks and engines are rugged, ready, and dependable. All they do, around the clock, 365 days a year, is help people, and for this they hold a special place in our society. These vehicles and the men and women who use them in the never-ending battle to control civilization's oldest enemy are our last pure heroes, America 's heroes on wheels. All the legendary names of yesterday and today-Ahrens-Fox, American LaFrance, Emergency One, Mack, Pirsch, Seagrave, Van Pelt-speed off the pages, sirens screaming in more than 150 stunning color photographs. Also included are vintage advertisements and dozens of original black-and-white photographs. The text is a fascinating history of fire apparatus and firefighting, describing the evolution from bucket brigades and hand­ pumpers manned by rowdy "vollies" to horse-drawn steam pumpers operated by the first professional firefighters, and from the first automotive powered rigs to the powerful, sophisticated trucks, engines, and rescue rigs of today. Woven together for the first time are histories of the great fire-apparatus manufacturers, highlights from historical sources, and hours of interviews with present and former firefighters and fire-apparatus collectors, mustering the legend and lore of hundreds of years of firefighting.