On Monday, September 8, Firefighter Bill Kamps succeeded in bringing the long dormant Ford pumper back to life. The guy manning the booster line is Fire Chief Bob Giorgio who helps Bill on occasion with this simple project.
This pumper served in an exciting era in the Cherry Hill Fire service, just like her cousin, the 700 Series American LaFrance that served at the Erlton Fire Co. There was a fleet of these Great Eastern and American LaFrance trucks in Cherry Hill. From historical information, gathered, the apparatus dealers started to offer financing to the fire companies making it easier to purchase the latest equipment. There was one tough fleet in this community.
The 1952 Ford F-7 was the first new fire truck purchased by the Ashland Fire Co, some current members drove this unit to fires. When Ashland purchased two new 1977 American LaFrance Century series pumpers, they gave the 1952 Ford to Bellplain Fire Co. in Woodbine NJ. Belleplain gave the truck to a local campground and it ended up on the parking lot of a gas station on Route 9 for many years. Her next stop was the Warwick Woods campground in Pennsylvania. After three years of negotiation, the owner agreed to trade the 1952 Ford for a 1971 Imperial. In 2000, we returned the 1952 Ford to Cherry Hill and since then she served as a Homeland Security asset protecting the rear flank of Station 6.
Why go through all this trouble? Because we need a few old school, manual shift, no pump commander, crank the windows, paper towels for air conditioning fire trucks to use as instructional props. Another reason is to take your kids and their friends for a real fire truck ride on their birthday (even when they turn 21) like they deserve. Forget the moon bounce, give them the cotton jacket hose bounce.
Between Erlton, Deer Park and Ashland Fire Companies, we are up to four fire trucks from Cherry Hill’s past - 1927 to 1952. We hope other members will join us by tracing the path of the fire truck that makes you smile as you recall a day from the past. Our efforts won't be complete without a Detroit Diesel 5-speed from the 1970’s. Stay tuned for the sanding party…………
This pumper served in an exciting era in the Cherry Hill Fire service, just like her cousin, the 700 Series American LaFrance that served at the Erlton Fire Co. There was a fleet of these Great Eastern and American LaFrance trucks in Cherry Hill. From historical information, gathered, the apparatus dealers started to offer financing to the fire companies making it easier to purchase the latest equipment. There was one tough fleet in this community.
The 1952 Ford F-7 was the first new fire truck purchased by the Ashland Fire Co, some current members drove this unit to fires. When Ashland purchased two new 1977 American LaFrance Century series pumpers, they gave the 1952 Ford to Bellplain Fire Co. in Woodbine NJ. Belleplain gave the truck to a local campground and it ended up on the parking lot of a gas station on Route 9 for many years. Her next stop was the Warwick Woods campground in Pennsylvania. After three years of negotiation, the owner agreed to trade the 1952 Ford for a 1971 Imperial. In 2000, we returned the 1952 Ford to Cherry Hill and since then she served as a Homeland Security asset protecting the rear flank of Station 6.
Why go through all this trouble? Because we need a few old school, manual shift, no pump commander, crank the windows, paper towels for air conditioning fire trucks to use as instructional props. Another reason is to take your kids and their friends for a real fire truck ride on their birthday (even when they turn 21) like they deserve. Forget the moon bounce, give them the cotton jacket hose bounce.
Between Erlton, Deer Park and Ashland Fire Companies, we are up to four fire trucks from Cherry Hill’s past - 1927 to 1952. We hope other members will join us by tracing the path of the fire truck that makes you smile as you recall a day from the past. Our efforts won't be complete without a Detroit Diesel 5-speed from the 1970’s. Stay tuned for the sanding party…………
