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.