"The Volunteer Hose Company participated in the 250th Anniversary Parade as part of the Third Division. They were joined in the division by the Eighth Regiment Band of Salem; Marshal Levi Flanders and staff; the Steamer Lucius Beebe, No. 1 and hose wagon; Washington Hook and Ladder (with apparatus), Carter Hose Company, Melrose, Drum, Fife and Bugle Corps, Greenwood Hose Company; Wakefield Veteran Firemen's Association and the old Yale engine, as...

"Purchased from the Seagrave Fire Apparatus Co. of Ohio at a cost of $9,500, this sedan-style pumping engine was first shipped by railroad to New Orleans to the International Fire Chief's convention. After the convention, where it received considerable attention from Fire Chiefs from around the world, the engine arrived in Cambridge on October 7th. Before it was put into service on October 27, 1938, a four-hour Underwriters pump test was conducted...

"The Wakefield Fire Department replaced its 1894 Abbot-Downing hose wagon with a 1906 American LaFrance combination chemical and hose wagon it purchased at a cost of $1,450. The horse-drawn wagon carried two 30-gallon chemical tanks and 1,900 feet of hose. During the eight years it was in service, the American LaFrance responded to several major fires, including the great Chelsea fire which destroyed nearly a quarter of the city in 1908, and the February...

"The first recorded firefighting efforts in Wakefield occurred in the 1660s with the 'bucket brigade' method of fighting fires. Residents were required to have leather buckets to carry water from brooks, ponds, or wells, form a line and pass the buckets to the fire. This method sufficed until the first fire apparatus - a four wheel, hand-drawn, hand-pumped tub - was obtained, but the buckets were still required to fight the fires. The first official...