Details of our city

Most cities have some sort of fire department. While they differ in the fact that some are volunteers and others paid, they all have something in common. That commonality is gear.

Smyrna's first fire engine was not a truck or originally made to be a fire engine. The year was 1916 and the vehicle started it's life as a 1913 Studebaker(example image).

The story is rather interesting as the Smyrna fire department's website shows.

In 1916, the need for fire protection was realized by the citizens of Smyrna. Prior to this date the only fire protection was a bucket brigade or the occasional barrel placed under downspouts of the homes, however several times fires were responded to by the matter in to his own hands and built the first fire apparatus. Using a 1913 Studebaker belonging to the family, Mr. Hager set out to make a fire truck. A wooden tank was secured to the stripped body of the car. The following is a description of the apparatus taken from Walter King Hoover's book Smyrna: The Town and the Church:

" In the event of a fire , this equipment was driven to the vicinity of the fire, and after being blocked under the wheels to keep from rolling, the right axle was lifted with a hand jack placed under the axle. This let the wheel turn freely without the vehicle being in motion. From a pulley attached to the hub of this wheel , a belt properly placed, powered a water pump, that was mounted on the edge of the truck above the wheel. A two inch hose about thirty feet long was attached to carry water to the fire...."

The first engine was used for not only fires but also to sprinkle the dusty streets that were prevalent for this era.

They did not start paving the city streets of Smyrna until 1929. Wow!

This is a detail of our city