VINTAGE FDNY RIG PHOTOS.

^^^^^ Can anyone read the decal on the BN vehicle door ? first number looks like a 3 ...cant make out second one ...maybe 6 ?
 
Chief, agree either a 6 or 8 for the second digit.
Maybe a "Shops" fan has access to Fleet Vehicle #904 from that era..?
 
First frontline rig (other than Rescues) that came from the factory with an air horn. Black in color. See it mounted to the right of the Mars light on top of the windshield.
 
1967 SOUTH JAMAICA 24 INCH STREET GAS MAIN EXPLOSION / FIRE DESTROYING 298 / 127's RIGS. ( i don't know why the photo is marked 1966 ....Fire was Jan. 1967 )

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BritishAndy said:
I don't know a great deal about this rig, perhaps some of the members can help?

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One of the old Hydrant Thawing Rigs....inside it had an actual Oil Burner (like in a home) that made hot water / steam delivered thru a short length of rubber hose for Hydrant Thawing.....back in the '70s they were manned by two detailed FFs during extreme cold weather ...getting sent to Boxes were frozen hydrants were found & in between doing a routine patrol looking for obvious frozen hydrants.....it also was used to De Ice Aerial Ladders etc at big jobs where water had coated equipment....the Oil Burner inside burned Diesel Fuel but the vehicle motor burned Gasoline....one night i was detailed to drive one & the other FF & i had a list of previously reported Frozen Hydrants to thaw ....after a couple of cold hours we stopped at a FH to refill the Oil Burner's tank with diesel fuel ( & to thaw ourselves out ).....i was on the Dept phone getting an update on the thawing list from the DV....the other FF was filling the Oil Burner tank with Diesel Fuel....he decided it would be a good idea to top of the Rigs Fuel Tank also so he did ...but with Diesel Fuel !!!.....the tank probably had been half full so both fuels mixed but as we were back on the road driving the exhaust looked verry odd....about the time i noticed it he said to me "i topped off the Truck Tank also."..i said "with what & he said the stuff out of the pump."...by now there was an obvious reaction in the combustion so i pulled into a vacant lot & we drained the tank .....i used a nearby ERS Box to contact the Dispatcher to have a nearby Company come over to us with 5 gallons of GASOLINE .....after much fooling around with the carburator we got it running however by now the undrained water hose used for thawing had frozen so we got it back to the FH where it was stored & that was the end of our Hydrant Thawing detail.
 
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