• Home
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Safety Alerts
  • Divisions
    • Administration
      • Meet Our Team
      • Chief Stephen Laforet
      • Organization Chart
    • Apparatus / Equipment
      • Apparatus Types
      • Equipment
      • Mechanic Certifications
      • Apparatus Locations
    • Communications
    • Emergency Management
    • Fire & Rescue
      • Fire Stations
      • Medical Response
      • After the Fire
      • Firefighters
        • In the Line of Duty
        • Padre’s Corner
        • Prayers, Creeds & Thoughts
        • Co-op Students
          • Spring 2020
          • Fall 2019
          • Spring 2019
          • Alumni Photo Gallery
    • Fire Prevention
      • Investigation
      • Prevention / Education
    • Training / Recruiting
  • Fire Prevention
    • Fire Prevention Week
      • Sparky’s Weekly Challenge
    • Fire Safety Plan Templates
    • Information Requests & Applications
    • Lock Box Program
    • Smoke Alarm/Carbon Monoxide Alarm Information
    • Important Ontario Fire Code Information
    • Fire Prevention Videos
  • Emergency Management
    • Emergency Preparedness Guide
    • Lake and River Flooding
    • Residential Guide to Flood Prevention and Recovery
  • Public Education
    • Building Owners
    • Carbon Monoxide Information
    • Child/Youth Fire Safety
    • COPE – Care Outreach and Prevention for Everyone
    • Fire Safety & Fall Prevention for Older Adults
    • General Fire Safety Issues
    • High-Rise Fire Safety
    • Home Fire Safety
    • Outdoor Fire Safety
    • Smoke Alarm Information
    • Sprinklers
    • Translated Materials
      • English
      • Arabic
      • Chinese – Simplified
      • Chinese – Traditional
      • French
      • Khmer
      • Korean
      • Portuguese
      • Punjabi
      • Spanish
      • Urdu
    • When Disaster Strikes
  • WFRS History
    • WFRS Apparatus Histories
    • Windsor Fire Stations Histories
    • Firefighting Traditions
    • Historic Windsor Fires
    • Miscellaneous History Articles
  • FAQ
  • Links
  • Contact
    • Windsor Fire & Rescue Services
    • Essex County Fire Services

WindsorFire.com

  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Flickr
  • RSS Feed
  • Windsor’s Early Hose Wagons

    • in WFRS Apparatus Histories
    • — 25 May, 2012
    • Horse Hose
      Hose Co. Co. 2's four-wheeled hose reel, 1880.
    • Horse Hose
      Hose No. 1's four-wheel hose wagon, 1890s.
    • Horse Hose
      Combination Hose & Chemical Wagon, ca. 1911.
    • A A A

    For more than 200 years, hose – that highly portable, flexible means of getting water onto the fire – has been the most important basic tool in the firefighter’s arsenal of weapons.

    Early, riveted leather fire hose was heavy and bulky, from the onset requiring some kind of hand-drawn cart to get it to the fire. Ultimately, a cylindrical reel on which the hose could be wound, then quickly played out at the fire scene, proved the most efficient way to store and transport fire hose. From the mid to late 1800s, horse-drawn two- or four-wheeled hose reels typically accompanied the steam fire engine to fires. By the late 19th century, in larger town and cities, the hose was more commonly carried in an open-top hose wagon, rather than on a reel. In the early years of the last century, many hose wagons were equipped with soda and acid chemical equipment. Typically drawn by two horses, these dual-purpose rigs were known as Combination Hose Wagons. Some big-city hose wagons also had fixed turret nozzles attached to their sides.

    In its early years, the Windsor Fire Department utilized both types of hose carriers. When the city acquired its first steam fire engine in 1868, the horse-drawn Amoskeag pumper came with a two-wheeled hose cart. A photo taken in 1886 shows another larger hose reel drawn by a single horse. By 1880, the bustling town had acquired a four-wheeled hose reel, this one pulled by a team of two horses. By the late 1900s, the city had acquired two four-wheeled hose wagons, each pulled by one horse. In 1902 the paid, professional Windsor Fire Department purchased a combination hose and chemical wagon, also with two-horse hitch.

    When Windsor purchased its first motor pumper in 1914 it was quickly discovered that the horse-drawn hose wagons simply couldn’t keep up with the speedy, indefatigable Seagrave. Consequently, two Menard motor hose combination wagons were purchased the following year. Triple combination motor pumpers equipped with pump, hose and chemical or booster equipment replaced the Menard hose wagons in the 1920s.

    Interestingly, Windsor’s last hose wagon was built by the W.F.D. Shops during the Second World War. The 1942 GMC , designated Hose No. 1, was in reserve service into the 1960s.

    Today’s modern plasticized fire hose, including large-diameter master stream supply lines, takes up far less space on the apparatus than the old cotton, rubber-lined hose once did. It’s easier to handle, pack and dry, too, with quick-release Storz couplings.

    All of Windsor’s eight front-line pumpers and four quintuple combination aerial towers – and even the heavy rescue truck – are hose-carriers today – because, as today’s gung-ho young firefighters like to say, hose is still the best way to “get the wet stuff onto the red stuff!”.

    Share

    You may also like...

    • 1935 Annexation Transforms W.F.D. 1935 Annexation Transforms W.F.D. 25 Nov, 2010
    • Windsor's Civil Defense Pumpers Windsor’s Civil Defense Pumpers 29 Apr, 2010
    • Chief Clarence DeFields The Chief’s Buggy 24 Jun, 2011
    • Windsor’s Pumpers: 1953 Bickle-Seagrave Windsor’s Pumpers: 1953 Bickle-Seagrave 9 Jul, 2008
    • WFRS History
      • WFRS Apparatus Histories
      • Windsor Fire Stations Histories
      • Firefighting Traditions
      • Historic Windsor Fires
      • Miscellaneous History Articles
    • Home
    • Home
    • WFRS History
    • WFRS Apparatus Histories
    • Windsor’s Early Hose Wagons
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Flickr
  • RSS Feed
    • Our Current Programs

      COPE - Caring Outreach Program and Education
      Interested in a career of Firefighting?
    • Latest Tweet

      Tweets by @WindsorFire1
    • Flickr Feed

      4049 - Flood Response Trailer3034- Urban Search & Rescue Truck4048 - Engine 64037 – Fire/Police Command Post4039 – Hazmat 13024 – Fire Special Ops Vehicle for Hazmat4047 - Emergency Supply Unit (ESU)3027 (Fire Investigation Van)4043
    • Home
    • Translated Materials
    • FAQ
    • Links
    • Contact Us
    • Site Map

    City of Windsor | © 2018 WindsorFire.com | Website created by: WebPlanet.ca