Throwback to the New Truck
 
By Member NSFC Webmaster
March 7, 2024
 

On March 4, 1947, the Newtown Square Fire Company, under the direction of Chief John Wilson, took delivery of a new pumper. The "E45" model Mack arrived at the Newtown Square firehouse, this was one of the first Mack fire trucks made after the war.

This pumper was ordered over a year earlier and was to take seven months to deliver; with things returning to normal after the war, it took over a year. Modern for its day, the Engine was equipped with a 500 GPM Hale Parallel Series Centrifugal pump and a 200-gallon tank.

With the cost of this truck being just under $6,000.00, the fire company cashed in their war bonds to purchase it. The firefighters' equipment on this truck was the Chemox Mask, forerunner of today’s air packs, which was good for about ½ hour inside a fire, and a 1½” fog nozzle on the "red line."

The truck was later sold to the Briarcliffe Fire Company.