Picture Tolland: A Homemade Emergency Vehicle

TOLLAND, CT — The latest installment of the Picture Tolland series takes us back to a homemade emergency services truck and the gallant group that built it.

In a picture from the Tolland Historical Society archives, Tolland firefighters are shown pumping the town's 1934 Ford truck at a pond during the 1930s shortly after it was built. It was the first motorized fire pumper in town.

Records show that the truck chassis was purchased from Fitzgerald Ford in Rockville for $586.40 and the fire truck body was an old horse-drawn cart donated by the Duell Brothers of Mile Hill Road. It was equipped with a Champion front-mounted pump purchased from W.S. Darley Company. A water tank was added in the 1940s and the truck served until 1960 when it was sold.

Fire officials said that, during the 1970s, the truck was retrieved by retired Assistant Chief Richard Symonds from a lot in Enfield. Due to the amount of work needed to restore the truck and the deteriorating conditions, the truck was later scrapped, officials said.

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Picture Tolland is a periodic series featuring images of the town, past and present.