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Los Angeles Fire Department
Historical Archive
Improvements Made in the
Department in the Past Year
During the past year the
fire department has made many improvements. Owing to the growth of
the city, it has been necessary to keep constantly adding to the number of
men and of horses and to the supply of fire-fighting apparatus.
There are now employed in the department 183 men, with a monthly payroll
of $15,125. There are 19 engine companies, all stationed in modern
houses, with up-to-date equipment for quick fire service, equal to any,
and the superior of many, of our large eastern cities. The department
machine shop, established a year ago, has done all the necessary repairs
to the apparatus during the past twelve months, besides completing a
65-foot telescope water tower, a wonderfully effective piece of machinery,
able to throw a solid stream of water to a distance of many feet.
During the past year the city, besides adding largely to its stock of
hose, has purchased five new engines, ten combinations hose and chemical
wagons, and also an 85-foot quick-raising spring truck, with rubber tires
and roller bearings, fully equipped with trussed ladders, pompier ladders,
and life belts. The department has also purchased, trained, and
placed in service, 32 horses during the year. In the twelve months
covered by the 1904-5 report, there were 729 alarms turned in, 649 of them
being for actual fires. The total estimated loss was $525,000, a remarkably
small sum for a city the size of Los Angeles. |
The Los Angeles Times, January 1, 1906
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