|
Stability
and
Growth:
1967 - 1973
By the
late
1960s, the Bower
Hill area was nearly fully developed. Little open land remained, and
much of
that was zoned for conservation or was unsuitable for building. The
mines were
gone, and the paint plant would soon follow. The oil wells were gone.
One lone
natural
gas well remained in Molly’s Hollow, the valley between Kane Boulevard
and Jaycee Drive. The steel mill and glass plant across
the creek in
Collier were still going strong, but Flannery Bolt Company, which had
been
dependent on the steam locomotive building industry, was gone. The new
reality
was that Bower Hill was now a residential suburb of Pittsburgh, and
little of the old sense of community
remained.
Residents now commuted to Pittsburgh
for work, or worked for a government, school, or hospital in the area,
or in the growing retail or service industries. Most
of the
old miners and mill workers who had been the department’s backbone were
retired, both as laborers and as firefighters.
The
department
was now
recruiting a new kind of firefighter, a suburbanite with a sense of
dedication
and service, often well educated and skilled in areas other than manual
labor,
who was just the kind of firefighter needed in the coming years as the
job
became more complex and technical. In 1969, the department officially
instituted
its
Junior Fire Brigade, consisting of students from ages 13 to 17. This
program
allowed the youth of the community a safe place to gather, and taught
them the
skills necessary to be a firefighter. The program also helped to build
a sense
of community and a sense of identity in the department. As the years
passed,
graduates of the Junior Fire Brigade assumed many of the leadership
roles in
the department.
The
department’s
facilities
changed, too. It added a two-bay addition to the fire station in 1967,
complete
with a kitchen and both Men’s and Women’s rest rooms. With this
addition, the
department reintroduced a fund raising Bingo on Friday nights. The
added room
accommodated more equipment, too. In 1969, the GMC Panel Truck
was supplanted in ambulance service by a new 1969 Cadillac with a
Superior Coach Ambulance
conversion. Late that year, the 1957 American LaFrance pumper had a
total engine
failure.
The parts
for the old 12-cylinder American LaFrance engine were no longer
available. The
department
secured a Ford V8 truck engine of about the same size and horsepower
from a retired school bus, and did the
engine
replacement completely in-house. At the same time, a “new truck”
committee was
formed. The primary criterion for the new piece was, “What can we get
quickly
and inexpensively?” Fortunately, a 1970 pumper
that
supported the demonstrator of the American Fire Apparatus “Aqua Jet” (a
hydraulically
operated elevated deluge nozzle) was immediately available at a very
low price.
Repainted in a shade somewhat lighter than the department’s formerly
standard
maroon red,
from its demonstrator colors of metallic red, white and blue, and with
the
problematic (and never commercially successful) Aqua Jet replaced with
a
standard deck-mounted deluge gun, this engine, which could pump
1000GPM, joined
the Bower Hill roster.
|