Evergreen Park Fire Department history

This from Mike Summa:

This is the Evergreen Park Truck 32, a 1956 Pirsch 750/250 65′ midmount aerial truck. Please enjoy and comment.

Mike Summa

Mike Summa photo

Tags: 1956 Pirsch 750/250 65' mid-mount quint, Evergreen Park Fire Department history, historic fire truck photo, Mike Summa, Pirsch mid-mount aerial ladder truck, Pirsch mid-ship quint, vintage fire truck photo

This entry was posted on May 21, 2017, 7:00 AM and is filed under Fire Department History, Fire Truck photos, Historic fire apparatus. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

3 Comments

#1 by Matt on May 22, 2017 - 2:12 PM

Evergreen Park was all Pirsch from the early 1950’s until 1999. The red paint scheme dates this photo from around 1990-1992. This truck was retained and kept after the 100′ RM was purchased in 1982 and was not sold until the late 1990’s. It served as Company 2’s aerial apparatus for many years.
Evergreen had a 1938 Ford/Pirsch engine, 1952 Pirsch engine, this 1955 Pirsch Quint (originally had a pump below), 1959 pumper-squad, 1964 pumper, 1970 cab over pumper, 1980ish rearmount, 1983 Spartan/Pirsch and along the line, the 1938 body was remounted on a Ford chassis and the 1952 body was remounted on a Ford chassis in the mid-1970’s.
#2 by Mike Mc on May 22, 2017 - 12:35 PM

Evergreen Park was very big on Pirsch rigs. They had at least two engines (maybe three) from the 1950’s that were replaced with later Pirsch’s and the pictured mid mount was also replaced with a rear mount Pirsch. They were also big on Mars 888’s. Every rig had at least two, and as shown, some had three. This photo looks like it was after the yellow paint scheme era and was probably a spare at the time participating in a parade. My guess is the original cab beacon light could not be replaced and they mounted a “back step” light on the roof. The 65 foot, relatively small mid mounts were intended to replace old “city service” ladder trucks in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Boston purchased several, although probably not a Pirsch.

Thanks for posting. Brings back memories.
#3 by Crabby Milton on May 21, 2017 - 12:54 PM

Very sharp looking ladder from the old PIRSCH.
They actually built that chassis until the early 1970’s with little change as far as appearances are concerned.