A history of Navesink Hook & Ladder's Fire Trucks
By Linda DeNicola, Neighbor | Jun 17, 2011 11:36 pm ET | Updated Jun 18, 2011 8:13 pm ET
While the firehouse home base of Middletown's Navesink Hook and Ladder Fire Co. No 1 evolved over the years, so did everything else, none more so than the trucks.
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At first, the "trucks" were carts pulled by horses.
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On Nov. 3, 1887, Joseph Stankiewitz, of Stone Church, built the first, hand-drawn fire truck, which could be pulled by a horse, for the sum of $78.00. By 1910, the company had purchased a chemical engine for $53.75, paying for it a little at a time. This proved to be much more effective than the buckets formerly used.
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However, in 1911, the company also added a pump and a three-horse power engine for $125 along with 100 feet of fire hose at 35 cents a foot.
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The new truck, considered up to date, proved quite heavy to pull. As a result, Tom Garney was paid $3.00 for a horse to pull the truck for each alarm when available. Shortly after, a used 1911 Thomas Flyer automobile was purchased along with a pump that could throw a stream of water 150 feet from a nozzle.
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The firehouse was mortgaged and the car and pump purchased for $875.
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Engineer Albert Burdge converted the car into a fire truck, which soon became known all over the county as a most dependable piece of equipment. Because of this, the company was called out to assist at many major fires all along the shore and in Red Bank.
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From 1917 on, the fire company purchased many fire trucks, among them a Ford-Smith Forman that they rigged up as a fire truck. The old hand-drawn truck was to be sold, but the company had no bidders. A chemical tank was placed on this truck, which proved effective at small fires and was later placed on another truck.
