Thinking Small: The W.F.D.’S Magic Wagon
In November 1983, Chrysler Canada Ltd. launched production of a revolutionary new kind of passenger vehicle in its Windsor Assembly Plant. The first vehicles of their kind built in North America, the...
View ArticleWindsor’s Early Hose Wagons
For more than 200 years, hose – that highly portable, flexible means of getting water onto the fire – has been the most important basic tool in the firefighter’s arsenal of weapons. Early, riveted...
View ArticleWindsor’s Mobile Command Posts
In the good old days, it wasn’t hard to find the Chief Engineer on the fireground — he was the commanding figure in the white helmet and coat, barking orders to his men through his speaking trumpet....
View ArticleThe Saulsbury E.S.U.
During the summer of 2000, the Windsor Fire & Rescue Service took delivery of three new pieces of apparatus built by a well-known American fire apparatus manufacturer – Saulsbury Fire & Rescue...
View ArticleBack to Red: 1993 Carl Thibault Pumper
In November, 1974, the Windsor Fire Department took delivery of its first lime-yellow rig – a 1050 IGPM pumper built by King-Seagrave Ltd of Woodstock, Ontario on a tilt-cab Ford “C” chassis with...
View ArticleThe Cafs Pumper
In late 1995, Windsor Fire & Rescue Services took delivery of a new triple combination pumper with a difference. Built by Carl Thibault Ltd. of Drummondville, Quebec on a Spartan custom chassis,...
View ArticleThe Luverne Rescue Squad
It’s a long way from sunny Phoenix, Arizona to Canada’s southernmost city, but one of the more interesting rigs to see service with the Windsor Fire & Rescue Service made that long trek northward...
View ArticleRebuilding Engine No. 5
On August 31, 1963, the Windsor Fire Department’s Engine No. 5 – a 1952 Bickle-Seagrave 1050 gpm pumper – was extensively damaged in a collision with an automobile at the intersection of Wyandotte...
View Article100 Years of Motorized Apparatus
An important historical milestone was passed in mid-April, 2014. It was exactly 100 years ago that the Windsor Fire Department placed into service its very first piece of motorized fire apparatus....
View ArticleOld Engine 6’s Last Run
Old soldiers never die, it is said. But sadly — just like all worn-out passenger cars and trucks – most old fire engines are eventually hauled off to the junkyard. And so it was that, after 26 years of...
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