Early fire appliances

In the first decades of the 19th century, insurance companies were concerned about losses incurred in meeting numerous claims relating to buildings destroyed by fire. The companies therefore decided to set up fire-fighting facilities in numerous localities, in order to prevent small fires from becoming major infernos. The insurance companies affixed their plaques to any buildings which they had insured. If a fire began, the owners would summon the fire fighters (firemen). On arrival, they would look for their company's plaque. If it was present, they would attempt to extinguish the blaze. If it was not, then they would join the gathering onlookers and enjoy the spectacle.

The main problem faced in putting out a conflagration is in delivering fire retardant to the seat of the fire. In most cases, this means directing a jet of water to where it will do most good. This requires the availability a powerful, mobile, mechanical pump, i.e., a 'fire-engine'. The first of these fire-engines were steam powered, and were built from 1829 until the turn of the 20th century. The most effective examples appeared from the late 1850s on. A vertical boiler was mounted on the rear of a four-wheeled dray, a vehicle in common use at the time. The boiler was designed so that it could be producing steam at working pressure within fifteen minutes of being lit up. The steam drove a small steam engine which was connected to a large capacity water pump, powerful enough to project a jet of water fifty or more feet into the air. The dray carried other equipment such as a water tank, coal for the boiler, ladders, axes, spades, buckets, hoses, hose couplings and different sized nozzles. There were also seats for a small team of firemen who wore heavy tunics and trousers to protect against heat, and a heavy brass helmet to protect against falling debris. The dray was pulled by a team of horses, usually two or three, but sometimes four.

Water would be sucked up from any available source, such as cisterns, creeks, rivers, and, if available, the wooden pipes that were appearing in the first attempts at water reticulation. Here is a dramatic photograph of a steam operated water pump, drawn by a team of sturdy horses, racing through city streets in the U.S.A. to the scene of a fire in about 1910:

One of the early manufacturers of steam fire-engines was the British firm of Merryweather and Sons of London. Here is an advertisement for one of their models. This early version had only room for the boiler, engine, pump and a few crew. All of the other equipment would have had to be carried on an accompanying dray.

Below is a small model of a steam fire-engine made by Matchbox (Lesney).

Below is a model of a self-propelled Merryweather fire-engine of 1904, powered by an internal-combustion engine, also made by Matchbox (Lesney).

The following images are of various models of the Ahrens-Fox N-S-4 fire-engine first introduced in 1927, which was particularly innovative and popular with Fire Brigades around the world. Ahrens-Fox is probably the world's most famous fire engine manufacturer, and is still building fire-engines today as HME Ahrens-Fox.

This fire-engine changed the way firemen fought fires, and came with standardised features still found on fire-engines being built today. The various 1927-1930 models seen below are particularly interesting in having their powerful triple-combination 1000 gallons-per-minute piston pump and pressure vessels mounted in front of the 998 cubic inch capacity (16.35 litres) six cylinder engine. The machine carried 1100 feet of 2½ inch hose, had one 65 gallon capacity booster tank with 200 feet of hose, one 16 feet roof ladder, one 20 feet extension ladder, two axes, one hook, and two hand-held searchlights. It was fitted with pneumatic tyres, and carried a double-action gong (bell) and a siren.

This 1927 Ahrens-Fox N-S-14 fire engine does not carry a front mounted pump:

The N-S-4 appeared at about the time the people of Nambour suffered major fires in their town centre, and a call went to the Maroochy Shire Council to purchase a fire-engine. As ever in the history of Nambour, the Council's response was "We can't afford it." Nambour had to make do with voluntary fire fighters acting as a bucket brigade, with very little equipment and only rudimentary training. In 1946 the volunteers were given a 10-year-old Ford utility (below) and a shed to house it in. The utility was only large enough to carry a small number of firemen - a water tank, hoses and other equipment being carried in a small trailer towed behind.

Nothing more was done until 1948, when the Council's own offices in the Maroochy Shire Hall were badly damaged by fire. Soon after, and not before time, a Fire Brigade with paid firemen was set up. They were provided with a light truck to carry their equipment, but it was hardly better than their old Ford utility.  This fire-engine is shown below with its trailer as it proudly appeared in a parade down Currie Street in 1950. A permanent Nambour Fire Station was not opened until December 1956.

Early fire-engines were commemorated in a set of stamps on an Australia Post first-day cover in January 1983: