Emergency Utility 1

[raybrag]

Found this picture on Facebook.  Said it was from the Feb 1941 edition of WNYF.  Anybody (like Tom Eve, maybe) know anything about it?  BTW:  Willy D, I know this rig entered service LONG after you retired, so I don't expect you to know.

 

[memory master]

Dewatering Unit?

 

[fdhistorian]

Found this picture on Facebook.  Said it was from the Feb 1941 edition of WNYF.  Anybody (like Tom Eve, maybe) know anything about it?  BTW:  Willy D, I know this rig entered service LONG after you retired, so I don't expect you to know.

Emergency Utility Unit 1 was in service from 1942 to 1960.

 

[raybrag]

Emergency Utility Unit 1 was in service from 1942 to 1960.

Any idea of the vintage of the truck, though?  Mack stopped building the AC in 1939, a 23 year run of the same model (!!!!!) . . . the first ones were built in 1916. And where was it housed, what was its purpose?

 

[fdhistorian]

Emergency Utility Unit 1 was in service from 1942 to 1960.

Any idea of the vintage of the truck, though?  Mack stopped building the AC in 1939, a 23 year run of the same model (!!!!!) . . . the first ones were built in 1916. And where was it housed, what was its purpose?

A 1921 Mack city service truck was converted to a Utility Unit. Each compartment held two 250 GPM pumps. Other equipment included 12 dewatering pumps, 24 lengths of suction hose and strainers, 24 lengths of 2 1/2 inch hose, a generator, two floodlights with 200 feet of cable, a 20 foot ladder, carbon dioxide extinguisher, hook, axe, hand lanterns and a 20 gallon tank of fuel for the portable pumps. The unit was intended for use during wartime emergencies.

Wheels of the Bravest - 1984

 

[raybrag]

Thanks, FDHistorian.  That's fascinating.  Do you know if the rig was originally an FDNY city service ladder, or if it was purchased used from another department?  If it was originally an FDNY rig, any idea where it was assigned as a ladder?

 

[lucky]

Probably on Staten Island or as the ladder assigned to one of the old combination engine companies in the outlying areas of the Bronx and Brooklyn.

 

[capthale]

Reminds me of a quad or a ladder tender

 

[fdhistorian]

Thanks, FDHistorian.  That's fascinating.  Do you know if the rig was originally an FDNY city service ladder, or if it was purchased used from another department?  If it was originally an FDNY rig, any idea where it was assigned as a ladder?

Wheels of the Bravest 1984

(In 1921) Mack Trucks delivered ten aerials on AC-7 "bulldog" chassis.  Five of these had 65' aerials while the other five were 75' aerials.  Mack also provided four combination chemical and city service rigs on AC-5A chassis.

Most (ladder companies) were assigned tiller type aerial ladders while some of the outlying ladder companies had city service rigs.

 

[fdhistorian]

Found this picture on Facebook.  Said it was from the Feb 1941 edition of WNYF.  Anybody (like Tom Eve, maybe) know anything about it?  BTW:  Willy D, I know this rig entered service LONG after you retired, so I don't expect you to know.

Thanks, FDHistorian.  That's fascinating.  Do you know if the rig was originally an FDNY city service ladder, or if it was purchased used from another department?  If it was originally an FDNY rig, any idea where it was assigned as a ladder?

From WNYF 1st Issue 1998

SPECIAL APPARATUS
The Utility Support Unit
by Battalion Chief John A. Calderone

During the early days of World War II, several members of this Department were sent to London on  a secret mission. Their task was to observe the operations of the London Fire Brigade during the London Blitz and, upon their return, formulate plans and operational procedures for the FDNY to implement to empower the Department to deal with similar aerial attacks. At the time, it was felt that New York City would become a prime target for fire bombing attacks as soon as bomber aircraft with sufficient range could be constructed. 

Among the observations made in London was that following a bombing attack, damaged water mains resulted in severe flooding conditions, especially in cellars of public and commercial buildings and in the subways. As a result of this, a recommendation was made to designate and equip a specialized vehicle to provide large-capacity de-watering pumps to deal with these emergencies.

During 1942, Utility Unit 1, officially designated the Emergency Utility Unit, entered service, carrying portable pumps, generators, suction and discharge hoses and related fittings. Thankfully, New York City was spared the aerial attacks and resulting destruction. Nevertheless, the Utility Unit performed its intended functions at many incidents-- especially flooded conditions resulting from broken water mains--and continued to do so until disbanded in 1960.

Four years later, as a result of several incidents requiring its services, a similarly equipped unit, designated the Utility Services Unit, was organized. This unit remained operational until 1972. Again, a few years passed and the demand for such services warranted action.

During 1978, five Borough Utility Vans were placed into service, one in each borough. These vans were equipped with a large dewatering pump and associated equipment. Demand for their services increased to the point where the Department began purchasing de-watering pumps and assigning them to line units citywide, eliminating the Borough Utility Vans.

 

[raybrag]

Again, Thanks, fdhistorian. I find this fascinating on several fronts.  First, I have always been attracted to the original Bulldog . . . the Mack AC.  I fondly recall watching the old Colonial Concrete's fleet of ACs as the ground their way through the streets of Queens in the late 40's and early 50's.  I found their chain drives interesting, and always wondered how often those chains flipped off their drives (you see the kind of thing I worried about when I was 10 or so).  Then, when I later found out that they had made a large contribution to the war effort in France during WWI, and saw the way FDNY used them as rescues.  Now to find out that one provided the original dewatering unit, in response to a perceived wartime threat,  I'm again impressed with the AC.  I guess that's one of the ways I demonstrate that I have a few screws loose. 

Incidental fact . . . did you know that the only difference between the AB and the AC was that the AB used a driveshaft system, and the AC had chain drive?

 

[firebuffkevin]

Again, Thanks, fdhistorian. I find this fascinating on several fronts.  First, I have always been attracted to the original Bulldog . . . the Mack AC.  I fondly recall watching the old Colonial Concrete's fleet of ACs as the ground their way through the streets of Queens in the late 40's and early 50's.  I found their chain drives interesting, and always wondered how often those chains flipped off their drives (you see the kind of thing I worried about when I was 10 or so).  Then, when I later found out that they had made a large contribution to the war effort in France during WWI, and saw the way FDNY used them as rescues.  Now to find out that one provided the original dewatering unit, in response to a perceived wartime threat,  I'm again impressed with the AC.  I guess that's one of the ways I demonstrate that I have a few screws loose. 

Incidental fact . . . did you know that the only difference between the AB and the AC was that the AB used a driveshaft system, and the AC had chain drive?

I love tje Mack AC also, one of my favorites.. Ray I also remember the Colonial Concrete Mack Acs.  I grew up in Queens also

 

[raybrag]

I love tje Mack AC also, one of my favorites.. Ray I also remember the Colonial Concrete Mack Acs.  I grew up in Queens also

I didn't, Kevin.  Nassau (East Rockaway) for me.  But my Dad worked for the city as an Assistant Engineer based at Borough Hall on Queens Blvd . . . first as a construction Inspector for new sewers being put in (on site every day, all day), later as a Plumbing Inspector.  I often went to work with him during the summers when he worked the sewer construction job.  Colonial Concrete was ALWAYS the source for concrete (somehow I have a suspicion they had a mob connection, as I KNOW the contractors did). I grew very familiar with Colonial's Mack ACs as they rumbled their way through the site.  My Dad was required to get a sample from every load they delivered, and these would supposedly be tested later to ensure the concrete met city specs. I don't know if this testing ever happened, but there sure were a lot of them.

 

[memory master]

Colonial Concrete..Lawrence  Street* near 32nd Avenue had property adjacent to the Flushing river where barges full of gravel were almost always tied up there.
* Lawrence street at the time ran from Horace Harding Blvd. (Now the L.I.E.) up to 32nd avenue where it became College Point Causeway. (College Point Blvd. was a long way from being thought of) Does anyone remember the little diner that was at the corner near 32 avenue?
And, they had chain driven Macks!

 

[3511]

Re the Mack AC... One of my earliest memories ... perhaps at age 4 ...

Accompanying my dad on a walk through his old Melrose neighborhood...he was OTJ, recently promoted out of Harlem to Belmont...it seems on those jaunts we would be welcomed at every firehouse and gin mill from Mott Haven to Morrisania...

On the apparatus floor of Engine 71, then on Park Ave...looking across, at eye level for me, seeing the chain drive in front of the rear wheels of Rescue 3s Mack AC, where he had been detailed the day prior...picking up his gear... can I be that old that I remember chain drives on FDNY rigs?

Only yesterday, so it seems.