Phoenix Fire Dept. What it is made up of.
..., that are made to adapt to the different area’s in which they are used. The first piece of apparatus used by the Phoenix Fire Dept was a steam engine pulled by horses to the fire. “This Ahrens- Fox steam engine was affectionately called “Little Steamer” and pulled by Dewey and Schley.”(Up From the Ashes 14). As time went by fire pumpers got more elaborate. In 1914 Station 2 and 3 received the newest state of the art fire engine, it was a Seagrave pumper. Still just as heavy as the ones before the difference in this one was that it wasn’t horse drawn but a drive able piece of apparatus. There fore they could get to a fire faster and safer than before. In 1916 the fire dept pride and joy was Betsey the American LaFrance pumper. As time went by the engines got bigger and better. Then in 1921 The Phoenix Fire Dept. got there first motorized ladder truck. “The rigid frame of this 75 foot 1921 American LaFrance”(26), the aerial ladder was released by a spring that pushed it up out of the bed of the truck so it could be manually cranked up and rotated. It wasn’t until many more stations were built that they realized that they were going to need more engines and now a chemical truck for chemical fires like the one on April 19, 1919, burnt the Union Oil Company to the ground, because they had no way of fighting that kind of a fire. Now we have what are called HAZMAT teams and trucks they deal with all the high risk chemical fires and spills. Over then next 7 decades the trucks got bigger and more elaborate. Phoenix Fire Dept. now has a different type of apparatus for just about anything imaginable. Today’s fire apparatus’ have many different functions. Fire apparatus can range from airplanes, helicopters, boats, to smaller version of fire trucks like wild land fire pumpers, witch are more than just a pick up truck with a water tank, a pump, and a hose. Some of the most popular types of apparatus that we see in Phoenix are, Engines, Tankers, Ladder Trucks, Ambulance, HAZMAT truck, and if you are at the airport you will see an ARFF. Engines are just that they are trucks that are manned by a crew of 3 or 4. Engines are normally what you find are normally first on the fire. Tankers, are trucks that help pump the Engines during a fire the are normally between the engine and the fire hydrant. Ladder trucks are sometimes called out to house fires. Ladder trucks normally have a three man crew, also known as the truckee’s. These men are trained to do a lot. Ladder trucks hold all the tools that cut, break, chop, etc. Ladder trucks are also used to get on top of buildings to fight fires that way and to rescue people from high places. Ambulances, well we all see these flying threw intersections lights on and sirens blaring. HAZMAT trucks, also call Hazardous Material Trucks, deal mainly with just that. This truck is very rarely dispatched. This truck is used mainly to help clean up and help with major chemical fire’s and spills. ARFF trucks are defined as, “Aircraft rescue and fire fighting apparatus, formerly referred to as crash, fire, rescue vehicles, are used to provide immediate suppression of flammable liquid and suppression of spill vapors on airport properties”(Pumping Apparatus 14). There are many more different types of apparatus these are just a few that might be seen on the streets of Phoenix. In the recent years, Phoenix Fire Dept. has become very involved with the community. They put on so many different programs and do so many things that they really don’t have to but do because that’s the way they are. “Last week we’d gone to buy groceries, and when we came out of the store it was raining like all get out - I mean a driving, pounding rain, way out in the middle of the parking lot was this old man who was just getting pelted. So we picked him up and took him home in the taker rig”(Knights of the Hook and Ladder 3). Those are some of the little things that they do. “The Littlest Firefighter”, was a story of a little boy that was dying of terminal leukemia, all he wanted to do was be a fire fighter. The mother went to the local fire station and meet Fire Fighter Bob, “who had a heart as big as Phoenix”(The Littlest Fire Fighter 2). Well some how the fire dept managed to get a complete uniform for this little boy named Billy. Well for an entire day Billy got to be a fire fighter, he was very excited. One day Billy’s vitals began to drop, his nurse started calling all of his family, and thought that calling the fire fighters was also a good idea. She asked the Chief if they could send a uniformed fire fighter to the hospital to be with Billy. The Chief replied We can do better than that. We’ll be there in five minutes. Will you please do me a favor? When you hear the sirens screaming and see the lights flashing, will you announce over the PA system that there is not a fire? It’s just the fire dept coming to see one of its finest members one more time. And will you open the window to his room? About fire minutes later a hook and ladder truck arrived at the hospital extended its ladder up to Billy’s third floor open window and 16 fire fighters climbed up the ladder into Billy’s room. With his mothers permission, they hugged him and held him and told him how much they loved him. With his dying breath, Billy looked up at the fire chief and said, “Chief, am I really a fireman now?” Billy, you are,” the chief said. With th...