| A Look Back.... by Kim Stellhorn To some our fire department history may seem old (55-58 years old) with the three departments starting from 1947-1951 and Santa Fe EMS starting about 1977/78. Just some trivia,
Arcadia got their
first VHF radios in the summer of 1972, 1- 2 channel
base radio and 2- 1 channel mobile radio's.
Before that you used the chalk board at the front of the station to
leave the address and directions to the fire. We also had some CB
radios. A few personally owned handhelds start showing up in the mid to
late 70's. As far as VHF Pagers, again a few personally owned
started showing up in the late 70's however the department did not own
any until much later
- A few
Bunker pants were first used in 1971-72 in the department,
- Most folks had
50-55inch coats and hip boots, cotton gloves
- Junior members had to share bunker gear and WHAT WAS A HOOD? - Tone
alert monitors(Plectrons) were first used at Alta Loma in the late
1960's I think.
- Arcadia
did not get tone alert monitors until 1977, I think they cost about
$125.-150.00 each
We all used the
traditional fiberglass or plastic fire helmets until the mid to late
70's, they cost about $15.00 each with a face shield.
They started to be replaced by the American Sportsmen fire helmet (Arcadia). These were high priced they started at $27.50 for the basic model 500 and topped out at $35.00 for the Model 1000 with ear flaps and custom sized, and the Cairns 770 (Alta Loma). Some of us splurged and bought Leather New Yorkers. I paid $75.00 for my first new one in 1977. The first 2 MSA
airpacks (for Arcadia) were purchased in Spring of 1971, no
spare bottles till later and you only used the SCBA's in an emergency,
we acquired a few used extra bottles later on.
Enough thinking, my
brain is hurting
Edited by Brad Magness |
