Synopses & Reviews
Delicious red paint and sparkling gold leaf on swoopy fenders, leather helmets and barking Dalmatians, screaming sirens and high-speed dashes to roaring flames-the business of firefighting is steeped in high adventure, danger, and heroism. Firefighters and their trucks and engines are rugged, ready, and dependable. All they do, around the clock, 365 days a year, is help people, and for this they hold a special place in our society. These vehicles and the men and women who use them in the never-ending battle to control civilization's oldest enemy are our last pure heroes, America 's heroes on wheels.
All the legendary names of yesterday and today-Ahrens-Fox, American LaFrance, Emergency One, Mack, Pirsch, Seagrave, Van Pelt-speed off the pages, sirens screaming in more than 150 stunning color photographs. Also included are vintage advertisements and dozens of original black-and-white photographs.
The text is a fascinating history of fire apparatus and firefighting, describing the evolution from bucket brigades and hand pumpers manned by rowdy "vollies" to horse-drawn steam pumpers operated by the first professional firefighters, and from the first automotive powered rigs to the powerful, sophisticated trucks, engines, and rescue rigs of today.
Woven together for the first time are histories of the great fire-apparatus manufacturers, highlights from historical sources, and hours of interviews with present and former firefighters and fire-apparatus collectors, mustering the legend and lore of hundreds of years of firefighting.
Synopsis
From hand pumpers to the sweeping fenders of the '30s and '40s and into the age of modern high-tech big-rigs, this colorful and nostalgic collection brings together many of the finest names in America's great firefighting tradition. Describing the evolution of the fire engine from hand pumpers to steamers to the elaborate rigs of today, Halberstadt points out all the interesting intricacies of the machines, takes readers along to fight real fires, and tells how to purchase a fire truck for $2,000, or less.
Synopsis
The American Fire Engine is a stunning tribute to fire fighters and to the fire apparatus of the last two hundred years, with special emphasis on the classic automotive engines, trucks, and ladder rigs of the twenties, thirties, forties, and fifties. All the legendary names of yesterday and today--Ahrens-Fox, American LaFrance, Emergency One, Mack, Pirsch, Seagrave, Van Pelt--speed off the pages, sirens screaming in more than 150 stunning color photographs. Als included are vintage advertisements and dozens of oriignal black and white photos.
About the Author
Hans Halberstadt studied documentary film in college and later took up writing, after having served in the U.S. Army as a helicopter door gunner in Vietnam, authoring/co-authoring more than fifty books. Most of his books have been on military subjects, especially U.S. special operations forces and artillery. He has also written extensively about farming and railroads. He and his wife, April, live in San Jose, California.