LAFIRE.COM
Los Angeles Fire Department
Historical Archive
W hat of Daniel David Hayes himself, once famous, now forgotten by all but a few historians? Hayes was responsible for major advancements in Nineteenth Century firefighting and, in part, for the advancements of Western fire departments. In his day, Hayes' ingenuity and the importance of his invention were substantially recognized. Looking back from today, the story of Hayes and his truck is a rich example of the yearning for improvement and zest for invention that typified late nineteenth century America. Yet information about Hayes is hard to find; all that we know has come from contemporary biographies and newspaper articles. And facts about Travel Town's truck evade us. The acclaim Hayes received in the last century, and the praise given to his invention, stand in stark contrast to Hayes' present anonymity, and the uncertain fates of his trucks. Perhaps the lack of information about Daniel D. Hayes is due, at least in part, to the profusion of technological advances in Hayes' day: Hayes was just one of many innovators who contributed to the rapid and monumental industrialization of America. His truck had its moment of glory, but in the overall story of firefighting technology, it was merely a rung in the ladder of development. When the LAFD's Hayes was sold in 1905, the truck was obviously not considered to be of historical value--it was 21 years old and no longer useful to the 20th century LAFD. How much of what we profit from today--computers, sound-barrier-breaking aircraft, video tape players, steam powered generating plants, and so on--is based on the early inventions of now forgotten innovators like Daniel D. Hayes. At least for a moment, the importance of Hayes and his Aerial design has been
remembered. But the mystery of Travel Town's truck remains unsolved. |
The above article appeared in the April 1989 issue of The Firemen's Grapevine.
|
Daniel Hayes was
the inventor of the modern aerial ladder fire truck. In 1868 he designed, and mounted, an
extension ladder that was raised by a spring-
|
|
His talents soon marked him out for
special recognition by the Amoskeag Company and in 1866 he was placed in charge of the
five steam fire engines of the Amoskeag patent, consigned by that company to the inchoate
Fire Department of San Francisco. These were the engines ordered by the Board of
Supervisors, in April, 1866, in anticipation of the advent of the paid fire department
then in process of organization. Mr. Hayes brought these engines to this city via Panama,
and having put them together on their arrival here, handed them over to the Supervisors.
On the new department going into service in December, 1866, Mr. Hayes was offered, and
accepted the position of Superintendent of Steamers. He was the first man to fill that
office, and for fourteen years, through all the storms of the political struggles of those
years, his fitness and capacity for such an office were never questioned. About the year
1868 he built the truck which has since made his name so famous. It completely
revolutionized the methods of fighting a fire and entirely did away with the old hand,
splice- IN: The Exempt Firemen of San Francisco : Their Unique and Gallant Record, with a Resume of the San Francisco Fire Department and its Personnel; Historical, Biographical. [San Francisco : H. C. Pendleton], 1900 : pp. 104-106.
|
LAFIRE.COM
Copyright 1999 All Rights Reserved.