Aug. 31—Wilkes-Barre City Council in March 1908, passed an ordinance to purchase a new fire fighting apparatus, a hook and ladder truck, at a cost of $5,500 from the Seagrave Aerial Fire Truck Co. in Ohio.
Months later, word was received that the aerial ladder truck was being shown at the National Firemen’s Convention held in Columbus, Ohio.
City Fire Chief Joe Schuler traveled to the firemen’s convention on Aug. 24, 1908, and immediately became impressed with the new firefighting machine. The words, “W-B Fire Department” were painted on both doors and down the sides of the truck.
“After weeks of anxious waiting, members of the fire committee of councils announced last evening that the new aerial truck had arrived and that it was upon a car in the yards of the Lehigh Valley Railroad,” the Wilkes-Barre Record newspaper reported Aug. 31, 1908.
“When exhibited in Columbus last week, during the convention of fire chiefs, it was declared by all who saw it to be the best equipped aerial truck ever placed on the market for the price. It takes about 10 seconds to raise the ladder to its designated height and is a truck which is easy for the firemen to handle,” the Record reported.
After the aerial truck was carefully unloaded from a flat rail car on Sept. 1, 1908, it was taken to the No. 7 Engine House where its ladder was attached. To test the new machine, firemen drove it to the Hotel Sterling to raise the ladder in practice drills.
A large crowd gathered around the Hotel Sterling and watched the ladder raised in less than 30 seconds expanding to the hotel’s sixth floor. Firemen took eight hand ladders from the sides of the new truck and placed them against the hotel within 20 seconds.
“The speed in raising the main extension of the new truck is acquired largely by two powerful springs under the front seat,” the Record reported.
Being a new truck, firemen practiced raising and lowering the ladder. After a few practice drills, raising the ladder to the hotel’s sixth floor took less than 15 seconds.
Axles on the new aerial truck were manufactured at Wilkes-Barre’s Sheldon Axle Company that once stood on today’s Conyngham Avenue.
The aerial truck was used in service when a fire erupted in the annex basement at the five-story Bennett Building on Public Square on May 21, 1912.
The Record reported May 22, 1912, that water pressure hampered firefighters for 45 minutes until a continuous stream of water was found by turning on and off hydrants around Public Square.
“The big aerial truck was stationed in front of the building ready to throw a stream from its tower in case the flames reached the offices on the top floor. The ladder was used in getting streams to the top of the building from the rear of which water was poured into the building annex,” the Record reported.