Brattleboro Fire Web Site

The Brattleboro Fire Dpartment became a paid, full time organization with the arrival of Arthur D. Horton, the town's first full time firefighter. He served Brattleboro for 42 years until his death in the Central Station in 1933. Horton lived to see most of the dramatic of the changes in the fire service, for it was in 1933 that motorized equipment finally replaced the last horse drawn unit in brattleboro.

Though some of the 4000 pound steamers could pump some 350 gallons per minute at 100 pounds pressure, they were no match for the onslaught of motorized equipment.

Though some old departments boasted they could hitch up a steamer in 8 and a half seconds from a standing start and be ready to pump in 10 minutes away from the station. That cuold not forestall the arrival of the internal combustion engine. Along with the increased water supplies from hydrants and added pressure, the steamers gradually gave way.

Motorized Apparatus

1914 marked the iminent death of the horse drawn era of firefighting. In that year the first piece of motorized apparatus arrived on the scene in Brattleboro with the purchase of a Seagrave air cooled combination truck. But it wasn't until 1923 that the second motorized piece was purchased and still the firefighter had the best of two worlds; the horse and the "gas buggy". But at that point of time, the demise of the fire service horse was inevitable for in 1926 the town aquired a 750 gpm Seagrave pumper and in 1927, a 500 gpm American Lafrance pumper moved into West Brattleboro. And the apparatus has continued to evolve into the apparatus of today.

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