Hey, there! Log in / Register
Once they were done with the chutes, they went up the ladders
By adamg on Wed, 09/30/2020 - 10:38am
The folks at the Boston City Archives wonder if you can figure out what's going on in this picture, and when.
Neighborhoods:
Topics:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
Fire Department Drill Team
They used to put on a show at Quincy Market for Fire Prevention Week. Of course, this photo long predates that.
1940 boy Latin street back
1940 boy Latin street back bay Boston firefighter training session
Back in the day
Late 40s, early 1950s by the (1947-1948-1949) Mack Type 19 Tractor on the left.
Boston Fire Drill Demonstration Team for start of the annual October Fire Prevention Week on a Sunday.
In front of the main branch of the Boston Public Library in Copley Square.
Wooden Ladders and Iron Men was the phrase.
They would also practice jumping into life nets
They would publish the parade route and the scheduled activities in the morning editions
This is awesome!
When did they stop doing this? It would be a cool thing to see a modern version. Maybe a mockup of a triple decker porch with an errant charcoal grill for thrill value.
The parade which include
The parade which include apparatus from the surrounding cities and as far away as Baldwin NY, seemed to stop in the mid-1980s after Prop 2 ½, I suspect liability & money was the main issues. Plus, that generation of Happy Warriors, the guys that survived WWII, were all retired out by then.
I wonder...
Why'd they stop? I wonder...
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/health/research/20obese.html
Stopped sometime in 1990s
They resumed doing it in the 1970s or '80s, at Quincy Market. It lasted until sometime in the 1990s, when it was the victim of municipal budget cutbacks.
Boylston at Berkley
I would say this is at Bolyston an Berkley with what is currently the Restoration Hardware building on the left.
Social Distancing.
Social Distancing.
The Answer
Thanks for playing folks! This photo is from the 1951 Boston Fire Department annual report. It shows a drill during Fire Prevention Week 1951. We don't have an exact location, but we believe its Boylston Street near Berkeley St.