Madison Fire Department
Contributor
The City of Madison has a 1926 American LaFrance fire truck that has been in Madison since it was purchased. This fire truck was originally built and purchased by the city from the American LaFrance Company, based in Elmira, NY. The last fire that this fire truck responded to was the Precision Warehouse fire in the 1960’s.
According to official records, the fire truck was purchased new by the City of Madison in 1925. It is an American LaFrance Model 75, triple combination pumping, chemical, and hose car. It has a 6-cylinder gasoline motor and a 750 gallon per minute fire pump, with a sodium bicarbonate chemical tank and hose reel.
The fire truck was refurbished by the Madison Fire Department almost 20 years ago, with new paint, lettering and striping, new reproduction tires, and a reupholstered seat. The gold leaf lettering and striping was applied by William Winters, who in his past had worked for a fire truck company. The gold leaf lettering on the hood was done in actual gold leaf.
Many firefighters have worked on and helped maintain this truck over the years, but in the past 30 years, Kirk Pittman was one of the main firefighters who knew how to crank, drive and work on this fire truck.
Recently, two of MFD’s firefighters, Sean Evans, and Ben Williams, took on the task of learning how to crank, drive and work on this truck. Sean has the benefit of being a trained diesel mechanic prior to starting his new career as a firefighter at the Madison Fire Department, so he had good idea of how to start troubleshooting and repairing the truck. The initial goal was to get the truck running again, which they have accomplished. A future goal is to get the fire pump operating again.