Page 17 - History of the Colton Fire Department

1892 sizes, hook ladders, hooks (pike poles), axes, shovels,
On May 9th the City Council verbally turned over brooms, picks and water buckets.
the Hook and Ladder apparatus to the Colton Fire Com-
pany Volunteers. Now with several pieces of equipment, The two types of ladders that used hooks were the
Chief Walin was quick to recognize the competitiveness roof ladder and the pompier ladder. A firefighter denied
in the men and “concluded it best for the department to use of stairs inside a tall structure would lean out a win-
form a second company for the hook and ladder there- dow with the pompier ladder and swing the hook through
fore establishing a rivalry between the two companies for the window above them, latching the hook to the window
the betterment of department moral.” On this day there stool. They would then climb up the ladder entering the
were also discussions from the Executive committee es- window above and repeat the process for as many stories
tablished for the 2nd Annual Firemen’s Ball. as necessary. The roof ladder would be used on a steep
The Hook and Ladder pitched roof by placing the hooks over the ridge so the
Company was a spe- Fireman could stand on the rungs while working to pre-
cialized group. Even vent slippage.
though they would per-
form the same tasks as The hook and ladder was pulled to the scene by
every other Fireman, the crew. The Tonguemen were positioned in the front
their speciality was of the rig to push, pull, steer and position the cart. The
to make access to the Axemen and Foremen would position themselves around
building and overhaul the rig for additional manpower. The Hook & Ladder
the fires contents. In did not carry hose, but only ladders, water buckets and
later years, the Truck tools. The Fireman position on the Hook and Ladder was
Company’s responsi- named after their primary tool, the Axe. The Axemen
bilities would grow tre- would always have an axe at hand for forcible entry or
mendously. The hook access to the fire. The members of the hook and lad-
and ladder truck got the der company were; E.A. Pettijohn, Foreman; R.W. Huff,
name from the equip- Assistant Foreman; George Smith and John Wilson ,
ment that it carried. Tonguemen; H. York and Dan Butler, Axemen
These tools included
straight ladders of many

Pompier Ladder

The 2 pictures of the Hook
and Ladder where taken
in 1910. In the White hel-
met to the far left is As-
sistant Chief R.C. Howe.
The other White Helmet
is Chief John Adamson.

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