Allison H & L No. 2

March 11th shall forever be a sad day in Harrisburg Fire Bureau history. Four years ago was the tragic and senseless death of Lt. Dennis Devoe while responding... to a second alarm. Denny's loss shall always be foremost in our minds since we all knew him so well. But long forgotten now, 86 years ago was another just as tragic loss to the Fire Bureau. On March 8, 1935, Box 124 (6th & Woodbine) was pulled at 4:07 p.m. for a fire in the three story row located at 641-643 Woodbine St. Upon arrival on the scene, veteran Fire Chief Edward Halbert struck the second alarm to get more manpower. It being a very smoky fire and visibility down to barely being able to see your hand in front of your face, Chief Halbert went to the roof to try and get a better survey of the fireground. With truckmen taking a beating venting the roof, the smoke situation became even worse. In the process of backing away from the gagging acrid smoke, Chief Halbert slipped on a wet rain gutter and fell backwards, three stories, striking a high board fence, before landing on the brick pavement. He was immediately rushed to the Polyclinic Hospital in critical condition. Chief Halbert, age 58, died on March 11, 1935 from his injuries. He was survived by his daughter and son. The 1935 Mack ladder truck currently assigned to the Fire Museum was dedicated as the Edward Halbert Truck No. 2 when it arrived in the city later that year and assigned to the Allison Hook and Ladder Company.

Brother John helping the Hook with a little project. Kinda fitting we literally just dropped this off. It’s in good hands!

It's really enjoyable to go through a box of old and not the clearest snapshots, some taken with Kodak Instamatics with fixed lenses nearly 50 years ago. These... are part of the late Karl Marzolf collection. Since there is no information on the photos, to just about anyone else they mean nothing and in this digital age with super sharp images no one would give the little photos a second glance. Some are really faded, others yellowed. I enhanced where I could with what I have available and with the help of a personal logbook listing all of Progress' alarms from 1928 to about 1978, I've pinpointed the dates and addresses and even figured out who most of the people are. So never discount old snapshots, at times they have a wealth of information in them or that once and a lifetime image of someone from long ago. This has been a great trip down memory lane of my early days a long time ago with many thanks to Karl's son Steve Marzolf.

This guy was (and still is) one of my early mentors in the fire service. Karl Marzolf was an absolute treasure trove of fire service information in my formulat...ing years as a young snot. . .but it was this guy who taught me all the intricacies of how to and how NOT to operate a Mack Aerialscope. I say NOT because he had this wonderful "hands-on" way of pushing the early single-axle 75 foot Scopes past their designed limits, just to show you how great the rigs were (and still are). Barry J. Buskey, HFD Badge No. 4, was one of the best instructors (as well as a great friend) I ever had. He also taught me a lot about being a Union President but that's another story. B.J. aka "The Commish" is doing well, but probably can't wait until the weekly "Friday Loafers and Liars Club" gathers again to regale each other with stories of daring-do, knocking down fully-involved row house fires with damp mops and booster lines; of how friggin' cold and icy it REALLY was before Jim Cantore or Al Roker invented wind-chill factors and how rough we had it back-in-the-day dressed in rubber coats, fireball gloves and tin lids! No offense to the newer equipment, but there has never been another aerial platform ever built that can take the abuse and keep coming back for more than the old single axle Mack aerialscopes. (the only bad feature they had was. . .once ya got 'em rollin' they were the devil to get stopped if ya stood on the brakes!)

On this day in Harrisburg Fire Department history. . .December 30, 1956. (1602 N. 5th St. Continues) We already know. . .... A local alarm was dispatched at 11:50 p.m.-Engine 2, Ladder 1, Hose 4, Asst. Chief Houseal (and I just found in another source that these companies were sent by a city hall operator error) Box 214 was pulled at 11:59 p.m. Engine 7, Ladder 3, Hose 10, Engine 13 and Engine 15 With the local alarm assignment probably on the scene, things began to unfold that are as clear as mud from the various sources available to this historian, but apparently the situation confronting the members of the HFD involved a very smoky deep seated fire in a row of very old (built prior to 1881 because they show up on the 1881 Birdseye view of Harrisburg) three story row of 3 buildings. All were vacant, however since it was the closed former Capital City Republican Club, no doubt an old uptown watering hole, vacant might well have been all the furnishing were still inside the place with the interiors greatly renovated and cut-up to make it all one building. The fire, wherever and however it started, must have slowly eaten its way through the old balloon frame construction of wood lath and plaster walls. Couple that with 12-14 degree temperatures, lines laid, and numerous streams put in service, it lent it all to one really miserable night for Harrisburg’s Bravest. A second alarm was sent in for Box 214 at 12:10 a.m. bringing Engine 6, Hose 11 and Engine 16. At 3:30 a.m. a tank filled with fuel oil ruptured and apparently much to everyone’s surprise spread fire everywhere according to Chief Houseal’s personal logbook. This prompted the General alarm being transmitted at 3:35 a.m. bringing the remainder of the Fire BureauEngines 1, 8, 9, 14, 16, Hose 12 and Ladder 2. At the same time all off duty paid firemen were also ordered to the scene to bolster manpower. Whether this was because conditions continued to deteriorate, or the chiefs felt they might lose a whole block or what volunteer turnout didn’t materialize (as had become prevalent throughout the 1950s and 60s) is unknown. How many off duty men showed up to work is also unknown. After the 3rd alarm sounded, Penbook, Progress, Rescue and West Side of Steelton filled in city firehouses to cover the whole city. No runs were logged while they were in the city. Several times I attempted to write up a more cohesive narration of this general alarm fire and I became confused with the lack of information for a general alarm fire of this magnitude and the conditions under which it was fought. Of special interest was the very rare request to Bethlehem Steel for their Cardox unit (a 1953 Dodge 900 gallon CO2 unit-that had an interesting history in itself, eventually winding up as Carsonville’s first rig!) Suffice it to say as a conclusion the fire eventually went out, the trio of old frames were destroyed along with further damage to other buildings, frozen hose probably laid locked in the ice for days afterward, three firemen hurt but not seriously, one of those was by smoke inhalation, the others cuts and bruises and a set of vacant lots created in uptown Harrisburg that exist today. At times I’ve lamented as an historian that I wish I had a time machine to go back and see, hear and smell what it was like, but on this particular occasion. . .I’ll give it a pass! Happy New Year. . .and I sure hope it’s quiet for all the lads that have to work!

On this night in Harrisburg Fire Department history. . .December 29, 1956. Picture yourself sitting at the watch desk just inside the front door of the fire mus...eum but with your eyes closed you are now in a dimly lit Reily No. 10 firehouse at 1820 N. 4th Street about 8:15 (64 years ago) tonight. It’s quiet except the subdued ticking of the ancient house clock above your head. At 8:19 p.m., a click sounds on the brass gongs, the large clear single electric bulb attached to the fire alarm system located on the north wall of the Reily comes on and the bells began to clang out three. . . a pause. . . two. . . another pause. . . then five. Box 325, 3rd & Broad! yells Fats Hollinger, tillerman on the Reily Ladder. Wagon only goes. HALLELUJAH! The reason for his exclamation was the simple fact that outside it was now down to 10 or 12 degrees, depending on what angle you squinted at the iced up thermometer hanging cockeyed just outside the back door. And with a brisk arctic wind whipping off the frozen Susquehanna, this was definitely no night to be out playing fireman. Things had been quiet all day and the city’s paid and volunteer members were hoping it would stay that way. That luck now ran out for some of ‘em. Assistant Chief Bob Houseal tramped harder on the gas and the siren of the red ‘53 DeSoto coupe already speeding across the State Street Bridge. Less than two minutes earlier at his residence on N. 18th Street, he hung up the telephone from receiving a call from the City Hall operator informing him he had light smoke issuing from a house at 1315 James Street, a half block north of the Broad Street Market. This part of town had been fairly busy for good workin’ fires most of his paid career that began in 1932. As with standard HFD policy at the time, a phone call, regardless of what the person on the other end might be screaming, would only get you a local alarm response of the closest company and one of the Fire Bureau’s three chiefs. This old horse era procedure generally worked 90% of the time and since he wasn’t the fire chief, why change things now. So the chief and the Good Will Engine No. 7’s 1954 GMC General 750 gpm pumper quartered at 6th & Calder were now on the street when Box 325 was ‘hooked’ by someone that figured the lads might need more help. The Fire Bureau would not have two-way radios installed for another two years, however police radios had been in the red cars for some time. Listening to the HPD dispatcher announce Box 325 to the cops in the Uptown beat, Houseal quickly figured he now had a working fire. Hey, even up until the day in August, 1991, when the Gamewell boxes were finally gone, a phone call backed up by a box nearly always equaled a workin’ fire. Now responding on the alarm along with Engine 7 were the two rigs from the Hope (today’s Firehouse Restaurant): Engine 2(another GMC General- twin to Engine 7) and Ladder 1 (1955 Mack B Model tractor pulling a 1940 American LaFrance 85’ wooden stick) as well as the Camp Curtin Engine 13’s 1940 1,000 gpm American LaFrance pump and two combination hose and chemical wagons; one from the Reily, a 1936 Reo that had just been transferred into the No. 10 house from the Susquehanna No. 9 after they received a brand new B Model Mack pumper, and the 1942 Dodge Washie (No. 4) wagon that eventually would gain fame as the first rig used by Squad 1(Of course you can all read about that in new book THE REILY CHRONICLES-how’s that for a shameless plug for the new book!) Vollie turnout was probably about 15 but with the bitter cold conditions, it was probably much less and remember every rig except for the Fire Bureau ambulance, the Washie wagon and Houseal’s and now Acting Chief McBride’s red cars were completely open to the elements. Arriving companies found moderate smoke issuing from the third floor and roof eaves of the three story brick end of row house at 1315 James. Engine 7 grabbed the plug on the corner and Ladder 1 pulled up Sayford from N. 3rd, swung the big stick around and up to the roof. First line off was the booster hose unreeled from Engine 7 and the rubber coated firemen worked their way with little difficulty to the 3rd floor, where they were probably confronted by a working fire in the front bedroom. Whether other lines were laid and whatever damage with possible extension into 1515 ever occurred currently is lost to history, but it’s a safe bet the lads may have spent a while at this location. Cause was listed as children playing with matches and no loss was given in the official records. As the rigs were picking up and leaving James Street, someone yelled to Chief Houseal, let’s keep it quiet the rest of the night chief, it’s too damn cold to be throwin’ water around! With a wave-off, the aging chief smirked and climbed into the hulking DeSoto then yelled back. . . we ain’t done yet. *************** Now over my 27 year career, I’ve worked my share of bitter cold blustery winter nights in Harrisburg in all three districts and more than a few times we would be sent out on some type of alarm on these nights. Occasionally we might even catch a working fire. It has always amazed me that even under these conditions late at night, people are out and walking the city streets. Now who was actually out and about late Saturday, December 29, 1956 on such a bitter cold hour at N. 5th and Harris is completely lost to history and of course totally irrelevant (except to guys like me who love to write!). But someone was and they noticed smoke seeping from the vacant three story frame building that at one time housed the Capital City Republican Club at 1604 N. 5th Street. Now instead of running to 4th & Harris or 5th & Hamilton to ‘hook a box’, they instead opted to make a telephone call to City Hall to report it. So again the City Hall operator on duty, called Assistant Chief Houseal and gave him the information. For whatever his reason, possibly the smart remark from the guy on Ladder 1, or he just felt sorry for the lads of Engine 7 for cleaning up after James Street fire, or maybe he figured it might be steam or just plain nothing, he responded with Engine 2, Ladder 1 and the Washie wagon and nothing from the two closest firehouses (Reily and Good Will) to this address. He recorded the time in his day book as 11:50 p.m. At 11:59, Box 214 at 5th & Hamilton began banging in the firehouses. And considering the clocks just ticked over at midnight. . .the rest of this story will be shared sometime tomorrow when I finish it!

On this day in Harrisburg Fire Department history. . .December 28, 1904 It was a bitter cold Wednesday evening with a wind howling off the river making life mis...erable for anyone having business out walking in the downtown streets. Tucked down in the narrow 300 block of Blackberry Ave were a number of businesses, some occupying old frame buildings probably dating to Civil War days. Located at No. 312 Blackberry, the 2.5 story frame livery stables of Frank E. Taylor held six horses, a number of buggies, tack, harnesses and other horse accessories with the upper floors packed with recently delivered hay and feed. Next door at No. 308 was the 2 story frame tinner’s workshop and fabrication rooms of the Capitol City Cornice Works. It is conjectured that near 7 p.m., something ignited a portion of the hay in the upper floors of the livery stable. The fire went unnoticed until balls of burning hay dropped to the first floor. There were several stable boys in the building tending to the animals when the fire started and someone ran outside shouting Fire! Hearing the cry for help, nearby Harrisburg Police Sergeant Charles O’Donnell and Patrolmen Gozney and Matzinger, on patrol in the vicinity either ran to the fire alarm box by the Lochiel Hotel, or to the fire. At 7:20 p.m. Box 4 began a slow clanging in the city firehouses, as the heavy clear-toned bell high atop the courthouse ‘bonged’ out the alarm. (If you are ever in Market Square in downtown Harrisburg some day and hear the big bell in the Presbyterian Church strike the time on each hour. . .this gives you a nostalgic sound of a fire alarm sounding on the Gamewell system over 100 years ago.) All across the city, horses trotted from their stalls; drivers and volunteer firemen pushed, pulled and worked to get the big steeds under their hanging harnesses; massive leather collars pulled down and clamped shut; reins snapped onto horses bits; firemen struggling with rubber boots and coats pulled over woolen shirts and pants; drivers releasing the foot brakes; and shouts and whistles heard as the rigs pulled out the doors. In less than two minutes the Friendship No. 1’s hose reel and steamer reined in to a stop at 3rd and Blackberry, only a block from their imposing firehouse; the driver working his horses to position his engine at the plug; the reel laying a line down to the fire. Inside the blazing stable, the stable boys, greatly assisted by the police officers struggled with the badly frightened horses, getting them under control enough to move them outside. Meanwhile fire was leaping from the upper floor windows and the bitter cold now turning to hot conditions. Flames impinging on the frame tinner’s shop ignited that as well and firemen now had their hands full. With the Washington No. 4 wagon, the Paxton No. 6’s steamer and carriage, Citizen No. 3’s wagon, Hope No. 2’s wagon and steamer as well as the Mt. Vernon Truck No. 1’s aging Hayes 65’ aerial arriving or by now on the scene, firemen struggled to quickly deploy 8 heavy lines of hose, through narrow foot alleys to the rear of exposed frame balconies of the 3 story houses along S. 3rd Street and down Blackberry Avenue and a concerted attack mounted. Accidents and mishaps were now commonplace on the fireground with everything icing up. Choking heavy smoke banking down to the street from the burning hay was a great hindrance. Before firemen could bring the fire under control the stable was badly damaged and the roof of No. 308 had collapsed inward with heavy damage there as well. Overall loss was estimated in excess of $2,500. It took about two hours to bring the blaze under control. While responding down Market Street hill to the box alarm, the driver of the Mt. Pleasant Engine No. 8’s one year old combination hose and chemical wagon struggled with his horses to control his descent. He managed to reach Cameron without incident but there his luck ran out. While entering the intersection with Cameron Street, the rear of the Holloway chemical wagon slid sideways on packed ice and smashed into the front fender of a stopped Steelton bound trolley car of the Central Pennsylvania Traction Co. No. 8 firemen Alexander Harris and William Bartolet were thrown from the back step. Harris hit the pavement face first quickly losing 3 teeth in the process and suffering other serious bruises. Bartolet was thrown to the ice and slid under the trolley coming to a quick stop jammed under the wheels. He suffered some bad bruises and lacerations of his hands and face. Although receiving slight damage, the wagon later proceeded to the fire. (Although never mentioned in the newspaper articles on the fire, it might be assumed both were transported to the Harrisburg Hospital or to a local doctor’s office or perhaps simply taken back to their residences, such as ‘EMS’ was in those days.)

On this day in Harrisburg Fire Department history: 21 Years ago. . .Briggs Street Again-with a better outcome December 27, 1999- At 1550 hrs. Task Force 2 compa...nies were dispatched to a good working fire at 1600 Briggs St. They found heavy fire pushing from the second floor on arrival of this large three-story brick single occupied house. But just before their arrival two Lancaster city detectives who happened to be in the neighborhood removed one occupant from a porch roof. The fire started in the second floor bedroom resulting in heavy fire damage to the second floor and roof spaces. Water and smoke damage to the first floor. Fire was under control at 1658 and the men were out two hours. Loss was $50,000 and four occupants were displaced. C Platoon had the initial alarm and was later relieved by D Platoon on the scene. Second alarm was sounded. See more

10 years in a blink........ Merry Christmas from everyone at the Allison H&L!!

52 Years ago Yet another Night To Remember On this Christmas Eve. . .1968-At 10:30 p.m. Dauphin County dispatchers toned out Rescue and Progress of Susquehann...a Township for a reported fire at the Earl Latsha Lumber Co. at 2300 Linglestown Rd. First arriving engines found fire rolling within the large one story cinder block mill on the west side of the complex. Help was quickly summoned by Fire Chief Glenn Dean of Rescue. Within five minutes, fire had communicated to the large L shaped frame wood storage sheds along Old Linglestown Rd. Members of the Progress crew were in the process of setting Truck 32 up for ladder pipe operations when these sheds virtually exploded in fire. Driving off the jacks the truck was moved to a safer position with the aerial part way out of the bed. The entire operation went into a defensive mode at this point. Big lines, ladder pipes and deck guns were the order of the night. Having a 24 main on Linglestown Rd. greatly helped in the amount of water flow required. The fire was finally brought under control near 3 a.m. Christmas Day. Hard work by companies saved the company office and a large bank barn to the immediate east of the complex. Destroyed were the frame sheds, the large 20,000 square foot mill and numerous piles of dried and finished lumber. The following companies responded: Rescue, Progress, Edgemont, Penbrook, Dauphin, Linglestown, Paxtonia, Colonial Park, Paxtang and Harrisburg Engines 8 and 15 and Ladder 3. Fire was equivalent to a fourth alarm response. The cause of the fire was never determined although arson was suspected. Damages were estimated at over a million dollars. High winds and sub-freezing temperatures (14 degrees) hampered operations and caused great icing conditions.