|The Disneyland Fire Dept.'s original passenger-carrying hose and chemical wagon|
Until the 1860s, firemen ran to fires, followed in larger cities by a wagon carrying ladders and other equipment, such as axes. Someone had the idea of hanging footboards on the ladder wagons—now firefighters would not be worn out as they began to battle the flames, and the "running board" was invented.
Hook and ladder trucks came next, as city buildings were built taller and taller. The ladders needed to get taller, and often included hand-cranked winches, pulleys and gears to extend and position them, so the wagon got longer. To provide water pressure, there were horse-drawn water towers that looked like medieval trebuchets.
|1885 Ahrens Steam Pumper (Visit the FireDex blog for more information.)|
Walt might have bought a vintage fire wagon and simply put it on display. For some reason, he decided that it should be an attraction, like the horse-drawn streetcars. In my imagination, he was thinking of letting kids borrow a helmet, jump aboard and race to fight a fire with the station's dalmatian running alongside the wagon. It didn't work out that way. The fire bell was mounted high so that children couldn't reach it, and the fire house was closed whenever Uncle Walt was using his upstairs apartment because he couldn't abide the racket.
|The one and only hose and chemical wagon waiting for Disneyland to be built. (Photo by Daveland.)|
"The pride and joy of the Disneyland Fire Dept will be a horse-drawn hose and chemical wagon. Men of all ages will enjoy jumping on and 'riding to a fire.'"—Anaheim Bulletin, July 15, 1955.
|The wagon running through its paces in Burbank seven months before Disneyland opened. (Photo: Stuff From the Park blog.)|