Engine 32 and Pipeline 1 – 239 S. 6th Street.
Engine 32 pumper 1933 American LaFrance; Engine 32 wagon 1949 Ford/AFE; Pipeline 1 1941 USFA/Autocar.
Pipeline 1 moved to Engine 3’s firehouse at 117 Queen Street on May, 25, 1953.
When Pipeline 1 moved out, Ladder 4 moved in from its single house at 319 Delancey Street. Only to stay a little over 8 years, Ladder moved to Engine 40’s station in Southwest Philadelphia on September 18, 1961.
Engine 32 was disbanded December 28, 1963.
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When Pipeline 1 moved out, Ladder 4 moved in from 319 Delancey St.. For the last half of the 50s, Ladder 4 had one of the first 100′ rear mounted Maxim Magirus aerials(the aerial being made in Germany). One of the drawbacks to this apparatus became apparent when I saw it on a local alarm on S. 8th St. when it raised its aerial to the roof of a 4 story apt. to investigate smoke coming off the roof. In order to access the turntable, members had to use a wooden stepladder to climb onto it from the street.
In the middle 1950s, the PFD did an internal study for relocating, reconfiguring, adding and closing stations for the future. It mainly involved closing stations in Center City, South Philly, and near North Philly as many of the stations were near each other as a result of the days of the volunteers and horse-drawn apparatus. In addition, single ladder company houses were to be combined with engine company stations. And some stations were to be completely relocated or added. One of the proposals was to relocate Engine 32 and Ladder 4 to a future station in the vicinity of 5th & Market Sts., and Engine 8 and Ladder 2 were to be disbanded. But what actually happened was Engine 32 was disbanded, and Ladder 4 was relocated to Engine 40’s station in Southwest Philadelphia. Instead Engine 8 & ladder 2 were relocated to a new station at 4th & Arch Sts.
See comment at the bottom of post for The History of Heavy Rescue.
I recently acquired a Cairns senator fire helmet with the shield Engine 40 and the lower portion under the 40 with number 14. Do you think that it is Engine 40 in southwest Philadelphia?
Many thanks,
Dick Buchanan