Pioneer Mutual Hook and Ladder Society (PMHLS) is a tax exempt historical society dedicated to all firefighters. PMHLS was founded on April 24, 1990 to establish a fire museum in Sacramento, California. As reflected by its name, the society honors the first organized Sacramento Fire Company, Mutual Hook & Ladder Company #1, formed on February 5, 1850.
The purpose of our organization is to collect, preserve, and display fire related equipment and memorabilia in a permanent museum. A museum fund was established to secure a permanent building to display the equipment and memorabilia already in storage, and for future acquisitions and donations.
Pioneer Mutual’s annual meeting was held on April 19, 2008. The following four incumbents were re-elected to new four-year terms: Craig Barmby, Ron Hermann, Gil Aymeric and Jack Church.
From the reports of officers it was noted that income and membership levels had both increased during the year 2007. Our net worth has increased every year since our inception. We’re on track.
We also chose this venue to honor two former board members who had recently resigned their positions. Don Sandretto was recognized for his service as a board member of Pioneer Mutual from 1994 to 2008 and especially for his countless hours restoring our French Hand Pumper, which now graces the atrium of the Sacramento Police and Fire Departments Administration Offices on Freeport Blvd.
Richard Crooks was likewise recognized for his diligent service as a board member from 1998 to 2008 and especially, as Membership Committee Chairman, for recruiting a significant number of new members to the organization.
Since the terms for these former board members will not expire until April 2009, the board decided to fill the unexpired positions: We welcome former SFD Fire Chief Forrest Adams and former SMFD Assistant Chief Robert Chase to the board of Pioneer Mutual.
Finally, at our most recent board meeting—May 15th—we nominated and elected our principal officers. They are: Chairman, Loran Wolcott; Co-Chairman, Jack Brocchini; Secretary, Jack Church; Treasurer, Craig Barmby; and Collections Manager, Randy Wootton. No change there!
I would like to thank all members for continuing to bolster
our fire museum efforts. Your financial contributions and support of
our various events strengthen our resolve to attain our mutual goals.
Father’s Day Breakfast: On Sunday, June 15, 2008 we will be holding our annual Father’s Day Breakfast. It will again be at the Newman Center at 5900 Newman Court, near City Station 8 and C.S.U.S. Breakfast will be served from 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The cost is a mere $7 for adults and $3.50 for children under 10. This is an all-you-can-eat breakfast of pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon, ham, biscuits and gravy, fresh fruit, juice, coffee and milk. In addition there will be a French toast bar and you can have a made-to-order omelet at the omelet center. Bloody Marys and gin fizzes will also be available.
Station 8 Cupola: The City of Sacramento examined and found lead-based paint on the cupola and now will be removing and disposing of the lead paint. This will delay the start of the repairs. Pioneer has the building contractor and a painting contractor lined up ready to complete the restoration.
Annual Meeting: On April 19,
2008 Pioneer Mutual Hook & Ladder Society held the annual business meeting
at Sacramento Metro Station 21. The meeting was sparsely attended. This
organization was founded in 1990 with the ultimate goal being to establish
a fire museum representing the Sacramento area. A lot of progress has been
made with the collection, saving and restoration of much of the local fire
service history, but we need more help. We are grateful for all the financial
support you have been contributing over the past 18 years. If you would
like to become involved with our, no, your organization, please feel
free to contact us by calling our voicemail 916-456-3473 or send an email
to pmhls@rcip.com. In advance, we thank
you.
April saw our annual membership meeting, voting for four board members and open house (tour of the archives and equipment/restoration shop) at E21. At Chairman Wolcott's request, each of the principal officers gave a short presentation. The common theme was: Pioneer, thanks to your support, continues to grow—membershipwise, financialwise, equipmentwise and memorabiliawise. All of this progress could not have been reached without you. Kudos, of course, to every Big Chief since our initial get-together in April '90—hence our anniversary date. A special thanks is in order for our two sitting chiefs—Ray Jones, SFD and Don Mette, Metro. Their unsung, unannounced and unending support have undoubtedly led to our ever-increasing bottom line. Have you perused Pioneer's Annual Report? It's a thing of beauty!
Hey! Father's Day breakfast is right around the corner—on
Father's Day. With the advent of the 48-hour shift, Paul Esola's grand idea—start
serving breakfast at 0700 for the oncoming shift and open the gin fizz bar
at 0800 for the off going shift—might be a moot point. (I still have
trouble figuring out the shift calendar.) Anyway, please plan to attend.
It's very relaxed (no dishes), very filling (all you can eat!), very fulfilling
(you can rub elbows with a lot of old-timers you haven't seen since the
last 10-7 lunch!) and very frugal (Firemen's Best Friend). Hope to see you
all there!
To paraphrase that old saying, same report different quarter. The tax forms and annual required government reports that are due May 15th are filed, the bills are paid and Pioneer Mutual’s books balance to the penny. Not too difficult a job. Writing an interesting newsletter article though, that’s another story.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank those members
who attended our annual business meeting and voted to return me to another
four-year term as a board member and to the Board of Directors for re-electing
me as your treasurer for another year.
In April Tim McCormack mailed out the annual member dues notices. The checks
are starting to come in so if you haven’t yet renewed your membership,
please keep me busy, renew your’s today.
I will finish up with my usual reminder of our next event, our annual Father’s Day Breakfast. Good food, good friends and a great chance to support Pioneer Mutual.
Maybe next time I’ll throw in a picture of a treasurer’s
report.
M. T. Publishing Company has been selected to publish the 2008 Sacramento Metropolitan Fire Department yearbook. A promotional flyer/order form has been created and will be distributed soon. I expect the book to be published in late 2008 or early 2009. The success and size of the yearbook depends on pre-publication sales. The more books that are ordered, the more pages placed into the book. The publisher does not expect to print more books than are pre-ordered. A professional photographer has been selected to take the personnel photographs, but the dates have not yet been selected. Please send any historical or interesting photographs, information, suggestions for content, etc. to me for publication consideration.
Pioneer Mutual purchased an Ahrens-Fox bell for the 1914 Ahrens-Fox tractor and has a good chance of securing another bell for the 1923 Ahrens-Fox piston pumper.
We bought a fire pole-hole trap door (photo at left),
which was used at the old SFD Station No. 4 located on 26th Street between
L & M Streets.
We also purchased a cast iron Gamewell “Keyless” fire alarm box to install in an ornate cast iron fire alarm pedestal that we received in trade for some surplus Sacramento fire alarm equipment. The pedestal and fire alarm box will be painted soon and then placed into the Archives.
Fran Lardie donated several Hagginwood Fire Department response logbooks from the 1940s and 1950s along with a book containing the typed minutes from the Hagginwood Commissioners’ meetings between 1955 and 1962. Thanks to Jan Dunbar for delivering them to the Archives.
We received an Aerojet Fire Services Badge and Patch from Greg Granados.
19th Century Books has sent their most recent book, “The Golden Hub–Sacramento” to the printer. They are using six photographs from the PMHLS collection in the eight-page fire department chapter. Also included will be two photographs from the Fort Sutter Archives. The book will be available at area bookstores when published. Or you can order it at their website: http://www.19thCentury.us/Gold.
After years of storing their apparatus in a warehouse,
the Los Angeles County Fire Museum has been given a home in Bellflower.
The Bellflower city council gave the group one square block of space with
a large building. They also received $600,000 in grants.
At the annual meeting on April 19, we did a show-and-see roll-out of the REO. Members got a first hand look at the progress we’ve made on the Engine. (Click on the thumbnail photos below.)
We are currently installing oil lines, fuel lines, electrical wiring and engine controls. The REO should be finished by year’s end. As Emeril L. always says, “we are kicking it up a notch.”
Remember Tuesdays at Metro Station 21.
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Pioneer Mutual would like to welcome Erv Watts as
an Annual Pay member of the Society. Also, we wish to express our appreciation
to Robert Luttrell for elevating his membership to Life Member. Yeah!
Among the collections of Pioneer Mutual is a scrapbook of newspaper clippings
relating to local and state fire department news, which occurred between
1913 and the 1930s. Most of the items deal with the Sacramento Fire Department,
and several of these refer to the horses that used to transport its fire
equipment before they were replaced with motorized fire apparatus. This
Feature Article lays out a collage of selected stories gleaned from the
newspaper accounts to allow the reader a glimpse of these fire horses.
From a 1915 piece we learn many of the names given to these fire horses:
"Slicker" is the name of one of the fire horses. The boys call him “Slicker” because his hair is sleek and glossy. “Baldy” is the name of the utility horse of the fire department. “Baldy” is a handsome black with a white face.
“Mutt and Jeff” are the names of two greys that help draw one of the big fire engines.
“Prince,” a spirited black horse, is the “demon” of the fire department. When the chief drove a horse instead of an automobile, “Prince” established a record for runaways.
“Chub” is the name of a stocky, fat black horse, also a favorite with the firemen.
But the most original names of all are “Steamboat Bill" and “Locomotive Bill.” These horses are so named because they emit sounds like the whistles of steamboats and locomotives when the fire bell at the station rings.
A separate clipping describes the unfortunate death of “Steamboat Bill:”
“Steamboat Bill,” one of the horses that was a pride of the Sacramento Fire Department, met death late Saturday while racing to a fire at Thirty-seventh Street and Magnolia Avenue. George Bonadeur, driver, narrowly escaped injury.
A piece of the harness had broken. Bonadeur was unable to control the team after the harness broke and “Steamboat Bill” dashed against a telephone pole breaking his jaw and biting off his tongue. It was necessary to shoot the horse.
A February 14, 1915 news article contains several items of interest. Below it introduces two more horses and elaborates on their behavior:
One of the most vicious fire horses that was ever in this city’s department was known as the “John” horse; he was also known as the “White Hope.” Past Fire Chief Sullivan drove this horse in this city in the year of 1886. There was nothing on the calendar this horse would not do—kick, bite and strike any time. This same horse was known to dream at night of going to a run, by uttering peculiar sounds and jumping to his feet all excited waiting to get under the harness. This “John” horse was later placed in what is known today as No. 1 engine company, located on Second street, K and L. His running mate was the “Tom” horse better known as the Black Mystery. The “Tom” horse was a very good horse besides having a grand disposition. He was transferred to No. 1 truck on Sixth street, K and L, where some time later he met with an accident in response to an alarm at Sixth and J streets and was killed.
You may surmise by now that accidents were part of the job even in the era of horse-drawn fire engines. The article continues with more introductions and another accident:
The “Kid” has been a fire horse for the past seven years. He was bought with a blue roan horse on August 8, 1908, for the sum or $650. At present the “Kid” is out of service, due to an accident… This is the “Kid’s” first time to be out of service since he was placed as a fire horse.
The “Kid” met with a very serious accident on the night of October 3, 1914, in response to an alarm of fire at Sixth and H streets. Shortly after leaving the house and traveling a little over a block, a Northern Electric car crashed into the three-horse-hitched fire engine (pictured at left before the accident) at Second and M streets. The Kid was the center horse and in the crash both poles were broken. It was one of these broken poles that gored the Kid in his front leg, leaving a dreadful gash.
One of his mates, known as the “Dynamiter,” (hitched on the left) is the horse that had to be shot. His front and hind legs were both broken. He was
named the Dynamiter on account of his peculiar disposition.
The third horse was the “Joe” horse, also called “The Sponto Horse.” This horse got a broken upper jaw...(See the photo of "Joe" at right with his jaw set.) This Joe horse has fully recovered from his accident, due to the prompt services and attention given by the city veterinarian...
But accidents were rare then as they are now. Most horses fared well in the fire service. The same article added this piece on their life expectancies:
Fire horses with good care, such as they get every day of their lives in a fire house, have a good average in age. The average life of a fire horse is from twelve to fifteen years but there have been exceptions where horses have lasted longer. James Gorman, Captain of No. 2 truck, located on Nineteenth street, L and M, drove two horses by the names of Cleve and Charlie for a term of fifteen years and on retiring from the service as fire horses, they were 23 and 24 years of age. Shortly after their retirement from the fire service they were sold to a man in the city. This man resold them to a farmer where they died of broken hearts a few months later.
About the oldest fire horse that has ever done service in this city’s department is a horse by the name of Jack. Francis J. Mangan, for many years driver of No. 3 engine, located on Nineteenth street, L and M, and recently promoted by civil service examination to the position of engineer in the city fire department, drove this horse Jack for fourteen years on No. 3 engine. This same horse is still in the city’s service at the ripe old age of 24 years.
The last news clipping cited is dated Nov. 30, 1930. The reporter interviewed several senior firemen who reminisced about the times they shared their firehouses with the horses:
And when a horse that had been with a company for some years died, the men all felt as though one of the family had gone, according to Bill Hellange of company eight.
“But now,” mournfully chimed in Francis Mangan, of the Oak Park company, “we must polish brass and crawl under dirty oil tanks, instead of take care of animals we regarded as pals.”
Three times a day, when the trial alarm testing the apparatus was sounded, the horses, knowing the alarm was false, would amble slowly from their stalls and into their collars and harnesses. But the minute a genuine alarm came in, they would dash eagerly to their posts and paw the floor impatiently, until the driver strapped himself in his seat and picked up the reins.
Each driver trained his own horses, and thus was better fitted to handle them.
“There was Dynamiter,” says Heiser, “whose disposition was all that his name implies. But he was the fastest fire horse on four feet, and he would run until he dropped, if you’d let him.”
“When Dynamiter had to be shot after he smashed into a trolley at Second and L streets in 1914, we all regretted the loss of one of the bravest hearts that ever responded to an alarm gong.”
We’ll conclude with one final quotation from the 1930 news clipping:
The fire fighting business, old timers agree, has lost its greatest thrill in this machine age, with the passing of the trained horses who formerly gave to fire fighting much of its colorful setting and romance.
Many Sacramentans can remember how a fire alarm was followed by the clatter of hoofs on cobbles, and the impatient snorting of fire horses galloping to a fire, as they drew a smoke and spark belching steam pump, which swayed around corners on two wheels.
“The good old days are gone,” …
This Events Calendar is published here to announce and promote planned activities of Pioneer Mutual, as well as the upcoming events of local associated organizations.