Virtually all of today’s custom-chassis fire apparatus is of the same game-changing configuration ALF pioneered more than 60 years ago.
American lafrance archives driver#
The industry-leading ALF 700 placed the driver ahead of the engine, vastly improving visibility and safety. But its most iconic product was the revolutionary cab-forward fire apparatus design introduced in 1947. The firm was thereafter known as American-LaFrance–Foamite Corporation, until 1955.Īmong the firm’s technical milestones, ALF produced its first successful motor fire apparatus in 1910 the industry’s first V-12 engine in 1931 and the first compact, forward-control service aerial in 1938. of Utica, New York, which had developed Foamite, a chemical foam fire suppression system. The American-LaFrance Fire Engine Company of Elmira, New York, was founded in 1904. Once the colossus of the American fire apparatus industry, American LaFrance LLC (ALF) abruptly closed its South Carolina plant on January 17 –the sad end of a storied dynasty extending back 114 years (182 years if you include predecessor companies that trace their roots back to 1832). Walt McCall, author of 100 Years of American LaFrance: An Illustrated History (2005) and American Fire Engines Since 1900 (1976), outlines a brief history of the company. I have no regrets about their performance. Murray plant in Hamburg, New York, about an eight-hour drive. ALF had taken over the plant and built stainless-steel apparatus there. I brought a pumper up to have some additional piping added and drove it back to the dealer the next morning. The farthest I ever drove was to the old R.D. After I retired, I worked for an ALF dealer for three years, driving apparatus in for service and repair and also delivering new apparatus to customers. I served in the Bayonne (NJ) Fire Department for 33 years and worked with these trucks. It’s a shame to see this company close, compounded by the loss of many jobs. Years ago, ALF demonstrators would have ‘AFD’ painted on the doors, which stood for ‘Anytown Fire Department.’ Many towns bought these popular rigs. So they were plentiful then, and there are still some ALFs in both cities. It was an American LaFrance pumper, complete with a heavy steering wheel and spoked wheels that the firefighter placed me on! My hometown of Bayonne, New Jersey, had some ALF apparatus, as did Jersey City to our north. I was about four years old when my mom took me to the firehouse across the street from the grammar school that I would eventually attend. John Malecky, Fire Engineering‘s Apparatus Deliveries author, offers some personal reminiscences of American LaFrance apparatus.
American lafrance archives series#
HERE we offer series of old ALF advertisements as they appeared in The Fireman’s Journal in 1880 in Fire and Water in 1905 and in Fire Engineering in 1926, 1943, 1960, 1982, 2002, and 2006. Below, John Malecky shares his memories of ALF apparatus, and Walt McCall offers a summary of the venerable manufacturer’s history. HERE, you can see both a visual history of the company’s products and the evolution of its fire apparatus.
After more than 100 years in business, American LaFrance (ALF) announced it was going out of business on January 17, 2014, ending its long history as a fire apparatus manufacturer.
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