Ward LaFrance fire truck history « chicagoareafire.com

Ward LaFrance fire truck history

Beautiful historic photos of the Ward LaFrance factory

#chicagoareafire.com; #WardLaFrance; #history; #FireTruck; #factory;

Tags: chicagoareafire.com, fire service history, fire trucks being built, Ward LaFrance, Ward LaFrance fire truck factory

This entry was posted on June 5, 2023, 8:00 AM and is filed under Fire Service News. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

9 Comments

#1 by John Antkowski on June 6, 2023 - 3:43 PM

Hey Crabby, How are you doing? I do remember that now. Didn’t Ward 79 build the pumper bodies for various manufacturers. I remember the last round of Mack’s acquired by the FDNY were fitted with Ward 79 bodies. Towards the end of Mack Fire apparatus they were just building the cabs. With the rest finished by someone else. But that could be another discussion. Take care.
#2 by crabbymilton on June 6, 2023 - 12:06 PM

Hello John. WLF was acquired in 1965 by TALCOTT. It was sold to the same company that owned MAXIM and merged them in 1976 but the WLF side shut down in 1979. A company called WARD 79 was formed at the old plant and built some apparatus on various custom and commercial chassis until they closed in 1990. Too bad they couldn’t have partnered with PIRSCH since they died in 1990 too.
#3 by John Antkowski on June 6, 2023 - 11:23 AM

I feel the excitement of the Ward LaFrance fire engine was glorified by the hit TV show “Emergency”. When Engine 51 got their new rig; which was donated to the show, no doubt. Personally, I felt that it really showed off the quality and craftsmanship the company built into their products. But, Closer to home, Milwaukee had 1. It was their first Diesel added to the fleet. I’m not sure who acquired them? I think maybe it was either HME or KME fire apparatus. I could be wrong. Anyhow, Thanks for sharing the old pictures of the company’s assembly line.
#4 by crabbymilton on June 6, 2023 - 6:23 AM

Thanks Mike. Hard to believe that most fire apparatus sounded like that at one time since that was the most popular engine option for many years. Now they are almost as quiet as the engine in the family sedan. Thank the Lord for YOUTUBE. Doesn’t look like there are many musters for the time being at least in this greater region. So those memories can be preserved that way.
#5 by Mike hellmuth on June 5, 2023 - 4:41 PM

There is also another video from Illinois railway museum it’s an old Wandsworth Ward engine.type in ward P-80 at Illinois railway museum and it should come up
#6 by Mike hellmuth on June 5, 2023 - 4:33 PM

Get on YouTube there’s a great video titled fire truck powered by a Detroit diesel it’s a privately owned Ward it will put a smile on your face also there’s another video of a Ward privately owned at the Chicago muster I can’t remember what suburb it’s originally from…….
#7 by george eimer on June 5, 2023 - 1:06 PM

wow is right 1972 we picked 1 100 ft. laddergrove and a 1500gpm eng.for streamwood at that time was vo[untee dept now full time dept we had training at plant elmira ny then drove them to streamwood il never for that trip . 19 hour trip 55 top speed good old days
#8 by crabbymilton on June 5, 2023 - 12:52 PM

HERE HERE. The TV program EMERGENCY certainly gave them much exposure. Unfortunately they went out of business anyway. But hey, the market is what it is.
#9 by Chuck on June 5, 2023 - 12:27 PM

Wow. Hope there are more.