TitleVery first self-propelled fire engine, Lansing
CreatorJames P. Edmonds
InstitutionCapital Area District Library
SubjectFire engines
SubjectFirefighters Michigan
SubjectNULL
Item NumberJQ01j002
RelationNULL
Type
image
Formattiff
DescriptionPhoto of first self-propelled (automobile pumper) fire engine, October, 1908, Lansing. Chassis built in the Olds Motor Works in Lansing and shipped to the Webb Pumper Company in St. Louis, Missouri for installation of pumper equipment. This was the first instance of a motor vehicle being used as a water pumper for a fire department. J. P. Edmonds was, at that time, serving in the police and fire department which purchased this vehicle at a cost of $6,000. This pumper was given its first real test at the Downey House fire in 1912. Representatives of fire departments from cities all over the United States came to Lansing to see it in operation on test cases.
