The First Fire Engine

When Pompano greeted the new year of 1926, they had little reason to expect that the year would not end with the city being more populated, prosperous and progressive. After all, hadn’t Pompano made great strides in recent years? The early 1920s had brought about a number of improvements for the area: the town’s first bank, paved roads, a bridge across Hillsboro Inlet, a municipal water system, sanitary sewers, a resident physician and a dramatic expansion of the population, to name just a few. Also on that New Year’s Day, Pompano’s first fire station was under construction and its first fire engine was on order.

Pompano’s municipal government had recognized that as the city grew, it would need to provide more modern services to its citizens, including more extensive fire protection. Fueled by increased tax revenues, in 1925 the city council approved building a fire station on NE 4th Avenue, between 2nd and 3rd Streets. It also solicited bids for a fire truck, and voted to purchase a Type 75 pumper from the American LaFrance Fire Engine Company of Elmira, New York, one of the country’s oldest manufacturer of fire-fighting vehicles and equipment.

The American LaFrance Type 75 was one of the company’s most popular models. The first Type 75 rolled off the assembly line in 1915 and by 1926, the fire engine was well-tested in the field, with many modifications made over time. One factor that made the engine so popular was that it was engineered so that routine repairs in the field were relatively easy, with parts being readily available by catalog or, in many cases, from a local hardware store.

Pompano’s order was for a 1926 model that would pump 750 gallons of water a minute and that included a chemical fire extinguisher. The new fire engine was shipped from the factory on June 23, 1926 and was put into service on August 22nd. It was housed in the recently-completed new fire station. In spite of the city’s significant investment in equipment and facility, the individuals who would actually fight the fires were all volunteers.

By the time the year ended, however, the optimism that had greeted its beginning was gone. On September 18, 1926, a monstrous hurricane struck South Florida causing extensive damage to both buildings and agricultural areas, along with loss of life numbering in the hundreds. Added to this natural disaster, was a collapse of the real estate bubble that had caused property prices to skyrocket. Suddenly, people found that their homes, businesses and land were worth only a fraction of what they had paid for them. Tens of thousands of people left South Florida, never to return. As the population and property values fell, so too did municipal revenues, and all the expenditures that had been made with the expectation of continued growth were now financial liabilities. In the case of Pompano, there was no money to pay for its new fire engine.

There was a real fear that the American LaFrance Company might repossess Pompano’s new fire engine, but with the onset of the Great Depression, cities and towns across the nation found themselves out of funds. It therefore became financially impossible for the American LaFrance Company to repossess hundreds of fire trucks for which there was no resale market – better to let the cities hold on to the fire engines and hope for repayment when good times returned.

Pompano was finally able to pay off the fire engine in the late 1930s, by which time better times, if not prosperity, had returned. As might be expected, Pompano’s volunteer fire fighters were tough on the fire engine, including rolling it while taking a hard turn west of town. The engine was from time to time modified as old equipment was replaced, often with “make do” parts.

By the late 1940s it was clear that the city needed a new, modern fire engine, and another American LaFrance pumper was acquired in 1949. It was larger than the 1926 model with a massive V-12 engine and much greater fire suppression capabilities. This proved to be a timely purchase as the city’s original fire engine was requiring increased maintenance. By the mid-1950s, the old fire engine was for all practical purposes retired, although it was not sold until the end of the 1960s.

In 1969, Pompano Beach sold the its first fire engine to a museum in North Carolina for $500. It did not stay there long, however, as the museum experienced financial difficulties and sold the vehicle to Phil Baumgarten of Fort Lauderdale, who purchased it for parts. Baumgarten brought the fire engine back to South Florida, parked it in a vacant lot and apparently forgot about it – ten years later it was still sitting in the same place, with weeds and even a small tree growing up within it.

About the time that local residents began planning for Pompano Beach’s 75th anniversary celebration, a Pompano Beach fire fighter, Ralph Edo, took it upon himself to track down the original fire engine. He and others thought acquiring and restoring it would be a good project for the city’s diamond jubilee in 1983. Little did he expect his search would end so close to home.

A small committee, including City Commissioner Dick Hood, Fire Chief (and later City Manager) James Soderlund, Dave Seyse, James Coffee, Buck Phillips, Richburg Hardy, Bob Isgan and others, was formed to raise the funds necessary to purchase and restore the by now antique vehicle. They called that original group the “Old 75 Restoration Society”.

The first restoration was somewhat of an amateur effort, but by 1985 the old fire engine was running again (the committee didn’t make it in time for the 75th birthday celebration). About this time, the original fire station was vacant and the building was leased to the “Old 75” committee as a place to house the fire engine.

Rob Brantley took on the responsibility of caring for and further restoring the original fire engine. He searched for original parts and researched what the fire engine looked like when it was new. Calling upon volunteers and donations from local businesses, the vehicle became more and more authentic. In preparation for Pompano Beach’s 2008 Centennial Celebration, Brantley did a complete “frame-off” repair, taking apart just about every piece that would come apart.

Keeping a ninety-year-old fire truck in good repair and running is, if not a full-time job, certainly an on-going task. Today, the city’s original fire engine is an important reminder of Pompano Beach’s past. Restored in an authentic state, it is still active part of the community, participating in local events and parades as a symbol of Pompano Beach’s volunteer spirit.