The wreck of Truck 5

January 22, 1922
Truck Company 5 hit by a Pacific Electric streetcar
while responding to an alarm.
Fireman Harry J. Custer
Truck Company No. 5 (then
assigned to Engine 23 at 4th and Town collided with a
Pacific Electric Railway Car while responding to a 7:45 a.m. fire at
940 Stanford Street. While traveling southbound on Stanford,
Truck 5 entered the Ninth Street intersection, when a westbound
Pacific Electric car slammed into the apparatus just forward of
Tillerman Custer's seat. His seatbelt snapped and he was hurled
headfirst to the street. Custer died of head injuries.
Truck
Company No. 5

Source: Walt Pittman Collection
Photo Date: April 6, 1924
Truck Company No. 5
Fireman
Ercil G. Morse
As the Company posed for this photo, they were
dispatched to a second alarm at 1320 South Main
Street. Truck 5 was ordered to the roof to start
ventilation of the three-story commercial building.
Tillerman Ercil Morse stepped on a flush mounted glass
skylight and fell three floors. He died the
following day of head injuries. |
After the wreck of
Truck 5 in 1922 Shop Number 77 (tractor) was rebuilt, overhauled
and repainted. An F-6 water cooled motor was
installed. Note the reconfigured front end. The trailer
was replaced with Shop Number 74, the 1905 (ex-horse drawn - see
photo below) Seagrave 85' aerial. The apparatus went back
into service as Truck 5, Shop Number 77 on August 11, 1922.
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