LAFD, "In 1884 LAFD Got It's Hayes "H&L"", THE FIREMEN'S GRAPEVINE, April 1989

In 1884 LAFD Got It's Hayes "H&L"

1884 The Hayes Ladder Truck began
service as the Volunteer Company:
Vigilance Hook & Ladder No. 1
Aliso St. and Alameda.

T he Los Angeles Volunteer Fire Department, like many other volunteer and paid departments at that time, yearned for a Hayes aerial truck. As early as 1879, Chief Jacob Kuhrts of the L.A. Volunteer Fire Department pleaded as follows in his Annual Report to the Mayor:

The apparatus of the department, with the exception of the Hook and Ladder truck, is in first class condition. The necessity for a new H&L truck has been called to your notice in my previous report, and I would respectfully urge upon your honorable body the purchase of a new Hayes' H&L Truck.

Kuhrts was unsuccessful in his bid for a new hook and ladder however, and left the fight to the new chief, Walter S. Moore. Chief Moore's task was not easy. In 1883 the Chief was still complaining in his Annual Report about needing a Hayes:

Gentlemen--According to the custom of my predecessors, I present this report of the condition and operation of the volunteer Fire Department of our city.

DEPARTMENT APPARATUS
Consists of: Two (2) Amoskeag second class steam fire engines, in complete order, drawn by horses. One four (4) wheeled hose carriage, drawn by men. One two (2) wheeled hose cart, drawn by men. One four (4) wheeled hose carriage, drawn by horses. One 'village' hook and ladder carriage, drawn by men. This apparatus is totally inadequate for the necessities of our city. We need one second-class Hayes truck...

In 1884 the LAFD finally got its wish; Moore had successfully convinced the City Council and the Commission on Fire and Water to purchase a 2nd class Hayes aerial with ladders reaching 65 feet. Final price paid: $2,550.

Hayes had personally initiated and then followed through with the sale of his truck to Los Angeles.

The new Hayes Aerial was proudly used first by the volunteers of the Vigilance Hook and Ladder Company. In 1886, the entire L. A.Volunteer Fire Department became the paid LAFD, and over the next 18 years, the Hayes aerial company's title was changed from simply
"Truck No.1" to
"Truck 'A'," then back to
"Truck No.1" again.
In 1903, it was rebuilt, and in 1905, finally of no more use to the department, it was sold, along with an old hose cart, for $25. to D. F. Donegan, a local railroad contractor. Despite persistent research, its fate after 1905 remains an enigma.

What are the chances that the Vigilance Company's 2nd class Hayes Aerial Hook and Ladder is Travel Town's 2nd class Hayes Aerial? Second-class Hayes' were available in a size called "Extra," with a 75-foot extension ladder, or with only a 65-foot ladder. LAFD's was a 65-foot truck, while Travel Town's truck extends to 75 feet. Perhaps when LAFD's truck was rebuilt in 1903 (or maybe while in use by Donegan), it was substantially changed. On the other hand, 2nd class Hayes' trucks were also sold to San Jose and Eureka, and Eureka's was an "Extra." In the 1920's or 1930's, Eureka's Hayes passed through the hands of a few salvage dealers to end up as a prop at a movie studio in Burbank, California--where it was, supposedly, destroyed in a studio fire. The Travel Town Hayes shows evidence of having been in severe fire, although a coat of red paint covers the charred and bubbled areas. From under this coat of red paint, we have uncovered the initials F.D.N.Y. (for the New York Fire Department) painted in yellow. Warner Brothers Studios, in Burbank suffered a severe fire in the 1950's which destroyed almost everything on the New York backlot set. Travel Town's Hayes was delivered to Travel Town between 1958 and 1965. It is tempting to assume that Travel Town's Hayes is the Eureka Hayes, but circumstantial evidence, however overwhelming, is not historical proof.