A Special Feature
CAPE
COD BRUSH BREAKERS
"A pictorial history of the unique
forest firefighting apparatus"
By Britton Crosby
First Posted January 2001 - Re-released April 2014
(Updated April 2014)
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Page 1
The Story of Brush Breakers
Apparatus Index Page
THE FIRST
BRUSH BREAKER 1937
| On this page |
| 01 - The Story of Brush Breakers / Apparatus Index Page The Story of Brush Breakers The First Brush Breaker Examples of Breakers, Forestry, Tankers, etc Highlights of Fires & Apparatus in History Feature Page Index Apparatus Featured Index Update History |
| CAPE COD FOREST FIRES |
| The story of the Cape Cod Brush
Breakers begins with an understanding of the land and its unique
forest fire history. Cape Cod, also known as Barnstable County, is a bent arm shaped peninsula protruding approximately 70 miles into the ocean off the southeastern coast of Massachusetts. The land was created thousands of years ago by the retreat of glacial ice, which deposited clay, rocks, boulders, and a mostly sandy soil. Huge chunks of ice that melted formed many of the ponds, lakes, and rivers found across the area. The coastline is pocketed with many salt water harbors and bays, and numerous marshlands and wetland bogs. Inland areas, some with considerable hills, were covered by vast acres of evergreen pitch pine tree forests. Just "off Cape" on the mainland side are similar lands within what is known as Plymouth and Bristol counties. To the south of the Cape are the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket that also share similar natural conditions as the Cape. Strong, warm, southwesterly winds in the spring and into the fall tended to dry the forests making them as explosive as tinder when a fire started. The wind driven forest fires would frequently burn thousands of acres of forest unchecked year after year. Native "Indians" who lived in the area would cultivate their land and protect their settlements by "firing the woods" seasonally to reduce the undergrowth and thereby effectively manage to keep the larger fires from their lands. After the arrival of the Pilgrims in 1620 and with the eventual inhabitation of the lands by more and more people, areas of forests were cut down to create farm lands and to build homes. Harvested wood heated homes and even enabled industry to flourish in the area. Inhabitants throughout history frequently faced many wild fires that threatened their lands, homes, and businesses. Fires that grew to thousands of acres would burn for days, creating billowing clouds of heavy, dark, choking smoke that filled the sky. Wind driven fires were nearly impossible to stop and frequently burned until weather changed or the fire reached a natural break such as water. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, fire towers were erected on high grounds so that spotters could observe and report incipient fires. During the 1920s fire patrol trucks worked in conjunction with fire towers to spot and attempt to quickly extinguish wildland fires even before some fire departments were organized. As motorize vehicles became more powerful and available in the 1930s, 1940s, and beyond, a variety of fire apparatus designed specifically to address the dangerous forest fires were built. Forestry studies in the early 1920s found that the explosive nature of forest fires in southeastern Massachusetts rivaled conditions in California and other areas where fires rapidly outrun efforts to contain them. Many major fires over the years have claimed thousands of acres of wildland, numerous structures, and have claimed a number of lives. Brush Breakers are not utilized in other parts of the country the way they are here. Topography of the land and other factors make them useful here and over the decades they have been used to contain and control many fires which otherwise would have grown much larger and caused much more of a threat to lives and property. During the larger forest fires, brush breakers working in groups work to surround and contain the fires so they can be extinguished using water carried by the brush breakers. Tankers, or tenders as they may be called, position on dirt roads or other safe spots to resupply the brush breakers as they make trip after trip back into the fire until it is controlled. Over the years, fire tower spotters would observe smoke as fires began. Two or more towers would utilize compass lines and maps to cross up a general area of where the fire is located (way before GPS was even imagined). This information was then relayed via phone or radio to crews that would respond to the fire. A system of mutual aid was developed to manage the large fires that could quickly exceed the ability of one or two trucks to handle. Radio communications and basic incident command systems were utilized, again long before the formalized incident command systems and communications systems we consider standard today.
|
THE FIRST BRUSH BREAKER
| THE FIRST CAPE COD BRUSH BREAKER - 1937 |
| The first known "Brush
Breaker" was the Town of Barnstable's 1937 Ford housed at the
Osterville Fire Station. The Town of Barnstable Forest Fire Department's Warden Bernard S. Ames, who was also the founding Fire Chief of the Centerville-Osterville Fire District in 1926, is credited with having this unique fire truck built in 1937. He worked with Carl Stark, who operated a garage in Osterville, and others, to design and construct a fire truck that could better respond to brush and forest fires that ravaged the Cape each year. They utilized a 1937 Ford Cab Over Engine (COE) all wheel drive chassis, installed a large water tank, approximately 800 gallons, added a fire pump built at B. D. Leonard's foundry up the street, and welded on an arrangement of steel bars to provide the protection and leverage that enabled the truck to drive into areas previously inaccessible to fire apparatus. The truck was designed to push over trees and brush as needed to reach and extinguish fires, ideally before they could grow very large. The truck came to be known as a "brush breaker" and it served as the inspiration for a wide variety of similar fire apparatus for decades to follow. As the story goes, the new brush breaker was first called into service on May 5, 1937 to battle a large forest fire in Hyannis, literally before the paint had dried on the new vehicle. As fate would have it, the truck either broke down or became hung up on its first response and was severely damaged by the fire that consumed nearly 2000 acres. The charred truck was quickly rebuilt and placed back in service. It went on to respond to many fires across southeastern Massachusetts over the next 15 years. The first generation brush breaker was replaced in 1952 by a new and more powerful second generation brush breaker of similar design. A third generation of this brush breaker was built in 1967. The Osterville Fire Station served as the Forest Fire Department headquarters and this brush breaker was staffed by members of the Centerville-Osterville Fire District. Also housed at the station in those days was the Town's forest fire patrol truck and the C-O FD's 1926 Maxim Engine 1. This feature chronicles the development and history of these unique forest fire fighting apparatus and the other vehicles that have battled forest fires over the decades since the first brush breaker was created. |
THE EVOLUTION OF FOREST FIRE APPARATUS
| HAND TO HAND |
| Before there were motorized
apparatus, men brought water fire extinguishers to fire fires in horse
drawn wagons. Buckets were used to fill extinguishers and pump cans for
fire fighting. |
| BEFORE BRUSH BREAKERS |
| Not all Cape Cod towns had
fire departments in the early 1930s and those that did fought
brush and forest fires with pickup trucks and pumpers with
minimal water tanks. Most of the hard work was still done by hand and
was not very effective with larger fires. |
1920s
| DENNIS FORESTRY TRUCK 1930S |
| This unique fire truck
belonged to the Dennis Fire Department in the early 1930s. It is
equipped with a large hose reel and a variety of tools and
equipment. Longer hose lines allowed men to reach fires well of
the road, but still within the limited reach of the hose. |
1930s
| YARMOUTH FORESTRY TRUCKS 1930S |
| This photograph of the
original Yarmouthport fire station shows some of the home made
fire apparatus that would have responded to brush and grass
fires. Larger water tanks were the key to fighting fires where
water supplies, such as hydrants or drafting sites were unavailable. |
| BRUSH FIRE BATTLESHIP - 1939 |
| This 1939 Ford "Brush Fire
Battleship" was built for the Massachusetts Department of
Conservation Forest Fire Service. Known as Truck 25 it was based
at the Myles Standish State Forest in Plymouth/Carver. The brush
breaker had a 1000 gallon tank and the rounded front metal
shield and side rub bars as designed by Charles L. Cherry who
actually got a U.S. Patent for this design in 1941. This image
is part of the Carver FD collection. |
| BARNSTABLE COUNTY NO.1 - 1939 |
| Also built in 1939 was this
1939 Ford COE brush breaker. Barnstable County Forest Fire
Department No.1 was built by the Robinson Boiler Company with a
Marmon-Herrington all wheel drive transmission, 85 HP flathead
Ford gasoline motor capable of about 30-40 mph, a 1000 gallon
water tank, and 125 gpm pump. It was assigned to the Falmouth
Fire Department from 1939 to 1957. |
1940s
| BOURNE ENGINE 7 - 1944 |
| In addition to fighting forest fires, brush breakers were often used for structural firefighting as well because they usually carried more water than pumpers of the day. This 1944 brush breaker, known as Bourne Engine 7, was typical of many of the trucks of that war-post war era having about a 600 gallon tank, a front mounted "structural' pump, and a rear mounted "pump & roll" fire pump. It was built on a Chevy military chassis. This truck was around well into the 1970s. |
1950s
| BARNSTABLE COUNTY NO.1 - 1957 |
| The second generation of
Barnstable County Forest Fire Service brush breakers began in
1957 with this Ford / Maxim 800 gallon brush breaker shown
during a performance demonstration. This breaker, also known as
C-15, was assigned to North Falmouth from 1957 to 1971. It
replaced the original 1939 No.1 which was then sold to the
Mashpee Fire Department. |
1960s
| BARNSTABLE COUNTY NO.4 - 1960 |
| The Barnstable County Forest
Fire Service built and operated a number of brush breakers over
the years from the 1930s to the 1980s. This 1960 Maxim custom
brush breaker carried about 1000 gallons. It replaced a 1949
Ford brush breaker. Maxim built several like this in the late
1950s and early 1960s. Breaker No.4, also designated as C-12,
was assigned to the Dennis Fire Department from 1960 into the
1980s. |
1970s
| SANDWICH BREAKER 153 - 1973 |
| In addition to State and
County forest fire apparatus, there were and are of course many
brush trucks owned by local fire departments. Sandwich Breaker
153 is an example. It was built on a 1953 Studebaker former
military chassis in 1973 by a local builder, Ted Young. It
carried 800 gallons and was assigned to Sandwich Station 3 in
Forestdale. Many departments have opted for using former
military chassis as a way of reducing costs and maintaining a
tough, durable truck with readably available spare parts. This
truck was completely rebuilt in house by the Sandwich Fire
Department in 2003 with the addition of a 1000 gallon tank and
continues to serve as Breaker 463 in Forestdale. |
1980s
| WEST BARNSTABLE BREAKER 295 - 1982 |
| In the early 1980s the
Barnstable County Forest Fire Service ceased to exist. The
county brush breakers in service at that time were turned over
to the departments that were operating them. The last brush
breaker built went to the West Barnstable Fire Department. The
1967 International former military chassis / Ted Young brush
breaker was built in 1982 with a 1000 gallon tank. It replaced
the 1958 Maxim county brush breaker No.2 known as C-14. |
1990s
| PLYMOUTH BREAKER 172 - 1990 |
| Many of the largest forest
fires over the years were in the large Town of Plymouth. The
Plymouth Fire Department has operated many brush trucks over the
years and during the 1990s and 2000s the replaced an aging fleet
with a modern fleet. Breaker 172 was built in 1990 on an
International diesel all wheel drive chassis by E. J. Murphy. It
carries 750 gallons and is an example of a slightly different
style body from some other breakers. |
2000s
| CHILMARK BREAKER 131 - 2008 |
| The town of Chilmark on
Martha's Vineyard had this brush breaker built in 2008 on a
Freightliner all wheel drive chassis by Massachusetts brush
breaker builder Bulldog. It has a 750 gallon tank, 300 gpm pump,
and carries 20 gallons of class A foam. This truck protects a
rural area with no water system serviced by a volunteer fire
department so the breaker was also equipped with a front
mounted, remote controlled nozzle that can be operated from the
cab by one or two personnel. |
2010s
| CARVER BRUSH BREAKER 27 - 2013 |
| Another community with a long
forest fire history is Carver. Carver operates several brush
breakers from their three stations. The newest, Breaker 27 was
put in service in 2013. It was built on a 2013 International
chassis by the Vermont fire truck builder V-Tec. It is one of
the most modern brush breakers in the area and a lot of time was
spent designing this truck which replaced a 1991 International.
The new truck carries 800 gallons, pumps 250 gpm, and is
equipped with a class A foam system, front and rear winches, and
has the ability to serve as a nurse tender shuttling water in
the community without hydrants. Carver's 1967 International /
Farrar Breaker 23 had served in reserve until delivery of the
new breaker. |
MAJOR FOREST FIRES IN HISTORY
| FOREST FIRES |
| There have been many major
forest fires over the years. Scenes such is this were common
across the Cape and in Plymouth County each year with many of
these fires burning hundreds or thousands of acres. The 1930s
saw a number of particularly bad fires, including the April 1937
fire that came out of the military reservation into Sandwich
which took the lives of 3 firemen. A bi-plane can be seen in
this photo, perhaps it was providing information on the size and
direction of the fire. |
| FOREST FIRE - 1946 |
| April 19-23, 1946 a large
forest fire burned some 15,000 acres over an 8-1/2 mile path
from the Cape Cod Canal near the Bourne Bridge into East
Sandwich. The fire burned over several days and brought help
from fire departments all over Massachusetts. A recently found
State Forest Fire movie documents the fire, and how brush
breakers and fire apparatus battled the blaze. |
| CARVER FIRE - 1964 |
| The fire tower spotted a fire starting up in the Farm-to-Market Road area of South Carver on Monday May 25, 1964 at about 1"00 PM near where a large fire had been fought two days earlier. Just 3 minutes later, another fire was spotted in the Suther's Marsh Road area off Federal Furnace Road. Eight brush breakers from Carver and Plymouth responded to the Suther's Marsh Road fire. Apparatus from Myles Standish and Wareham responded to the South Carver fire. The Suther's Marsh fire was controlled in about 2 hours, but the South Carver fire continued to gain much headway and grew much larger. It moved east toward Charge Pond Road and Camp Cachalot at Five Mile Pond and Little Long Pond. The fire then jumped the Agawam River and burned on to White Island Pond. The Plymouth Fire Chief Arthur Lamb chose to take a stand at White Island Pond to block the north end of the fire and at Shangi-La Shores near Glen Charlie Road to the south. When all was said and done, over 1,000 firemen from Plymouth and Barnstable Counties battled the fires in gusty 30 mile per hour winds and tinder dry conditions. The fire burned 5,500 acres and destroyed approximately 30 cottages. |
| SANDWICH FIRE - 1965 |
| It was 75 degrees on May 1, 1965. Winds were gusting to 35 mph from the southwest. At 12:54 PM, the Bourne fire tower reported a brush fire near Forestdale Road and Pocasset Road on the military reservation. Within minutes the fire was already growing rapidly and the fire tower reported the fire looks "real bad." Brush breakers from several towns were called in desperation as fire chiefs recognized the extremely dangerous combination of heat, wind, and dry conditions. Twenty minutes later the fire patrol plane advised that the fire had already burned 40 to 50 acres and was moving rapidly towards Sandwich. Even with mutual aid coming from across southeastern Massachusetts, the huge fire burned thousands of acres on its way to jumping the Mid-Cape highway at 2:20 PM and continuing to burn down into Sandwich village before being controlled. |
| PAVE PAWS FIRE - 1988 |
| Approximately 2,000 acres burned around the PAVE PAWS radar installation at the Massachusetts Military Reservation (Otis ANGB) on April 22, 1988. Flames 60'-100' in the air were observed as the fire raged through the northern end of the base. Mutual aid came from two counties to fight the fire. The photo was taken from the County Patrol Plane P-18. |
FIREFIGHTER MEMORIAL
| APRIL 27, 1938 |
| One of the worst forest fires in
the history of Cape Cod was on April 27, 1938 in Sandwich. A fire
that started in the National Guard camp at Camp Edwards grew
quickly, eventually burning an area 12 miles long and 5 miles wide
into the Shawme Crowell State Forest. Several firemen would become
trapped by the fire and suffered severe burns. Three of them, Thomas
Adams, Ervin Draper, and Gordon King, died from their injuries
making this one of the worst fires in Cape history. A simple memorial is maintained by the State Forest Fire folks in a small park off Route 130 in Sandwich near where the men perished.
|
| A TRIBUTE |
|
By the People
of Barnstable County |
SMOKEY BEAR
| Smokey Bear |
| The huge number of forest fires in the early 1900's across the country resulted in an advertising campaign to try to prevent or reduce the number of forest fires. In 1944 Smokey Bear was created. In 1947 the familiar "Remember... Only YOU Can Prevent Forest Fires" slogan began. The image of Smokey Bear with his hat and shovel are recognized by all as a reminder to be careful with fire to prevent forest fires. The Firefighters Memorial in Sandwich and many other examples stand as a reminder of just how dangerous forest fires can become. The key is Prevention. |
| TITLE |
| One
|
BRUSH BREAKER FEATURE PAGE INDEX
| Page 1 - The Story of Brush Breakers / Apparatus Index Page |
| Page 2 - Cape Cod Forest Fires History |
| 1910s-1920s |
| Page 3 - Fire Towers, Patrol Trucks, Patrol Planes |
| Page 4 - Before Brush Breakers |
| 1930s-1940s |
| Page 5 - The First Brush Breaker - 1937 |
| Page 6 - Barnstable County Forest Fire Apparatus 1st Generation 1930s-1940s |
| Page 7 - State Forest Fire Apparatus 1930s-1940s |
| Page 8 - Cape Cod Brush Breakers 1930s-1940s |
| Page 9 - Plymouth County Forest Fire Apparatus 1930s-1940s |
| Page 10 - Forest Fires 1930s-1940s |
| 1950s-1960s |
| Page 11 - Second Generation Brush Breaker - 1952 |
| Page 12 - Barnstable County Forest Fire Apparatus 2nd Generation 1950s-1960s |
| Page 13 - State Forest Fire Apparatus 1950s-1960s |
| Page 14 - Cape Cod Forest Fire Apparatus 1950s-1960s |
| Page 15 - Plymouth County Forest Fire Apparatus 1950s-1960s |
| Page 16 - Forest Fires 1950s-1960s |
| 1970s-1980s |
| Page 17 - Third Generation Brush Breaker - 1967 |
| Page 18 - Barnstable County Forest Fire Apparatus 1970s-1980s |
| Page 19 - State Forest Fire Apparatus 1970s-1980s |
| Page 20 - Cape Cod Forest Fire Apparatus 1970s |
| Page 21 - Cape Cod Forest Fire Apparatus 1980s |
| Page 22 - Plymouth County Forest Fire Apparatus 1970s |
| Page 23 - Plymouth County Forest Fire Apparatus 1980s |
| Page 24 - Forest Fires 1970s-1980s |
| 1990s |
| Page 25 - State Forest Fire Apparatus 1990s |
| Page 26 - Cape Cod Forest Fire Apparatus 1990s |
| Page 27 - |
| Page 28 - |
| Page 29 - |
| Page 30 - |
| Page 31 - |
| Page 32 - |
| Page 33 - |
| Page 34 - |
FOREST FIRE APPARATUS PAGE INDEX
| 01 - Index Page / The Story of Brush Breakers The Story of Brush Breakers Feature Page Index Apparatus Featured Index Highlights of Fires & Apparatus in History Examples of Breakers, Forestry, Tankers, etc Update History 02 - Cape Cod Forest Fires History Forest fires in SE Mass Historical Fires Cape & Plymouth 1780 1887 1900 1907 1923 1937 1938 Sandwich Fatal Sandwich FF Memorial 1938 Fire 1957 1964 1971 1995 Smokey Bear campaign 03 - Fire Towers & Patrol Planes Spotting smoke and finding fires Fire Towers Cape Cod Patrol Trucks Communities County State Patrol Planes Barnstable County Plymouth County 04 - Before Brush Breakers Firefighting by Hand Filling Extinguishers 1920s-1930s Fire Trucks 1920s State truck 1930s Edgartown FF Truck 1930s Plym FF trucks 1930s Yarm trucks Early Patrol Trucks 1930s-1940s 05 - The First Brush Breaker - 1937 1937 Ford TOB Osterville 06 - Barnstable County Brush Breakers - 1939-1950s First Generation 1939 No1, 1941 No2, 1949 No3, 1951 No4 07 - Early State Forest Fire Apparatus - 1930s State Patrol Truck 1938 Ford COEs 1939 Brush Breaker 25 08 - Cape Cod Brush Breakers - 1930s-1940s 1938 Sandwich Ford 1940s Camp Edwards green 1942 COFD E4 1940s Dennis patrol 1944 Otis Diamond T 1940s Bourne 1946 Fal Dodge C30 1947 Bourne 7 1947 TOB Cotuit 1947 TOB Cent 1949 Bourne 9 1949 Bourne 8 09 - Plymouth County Brush Trucks - 1930s-1940s Wareham Plymouth 10 - Forest Fires 1930s, 1940s 1930s Dennis Fire 1946 Cape Fire - Images from the video 1950s-1960s 11 - Second Generation Brush Breaker - 1952 Second Generation 1952 Ford TOB Osterville Breaker 12 - Second Generation Barnstable County Breakers - 1950s-1960s Second Generation 1957 Maxim No1 C15 1958 Maxim No2 C14 1960 Maxim No4 C12 1963 Maxim No3 C13 13 - State Brush Breakers - 1950s-1960s 1964 FWD Breakers 1968 Int/Farrar patrol trucks 14 - Cape Cod Brush Breakers & Tankers - 1950s-1960s Brush Breakers and tankers 1950 Ford Mash E1 former 1930 COFD E3 1950 Dodge Mash E2 1950 Harwich Ford white elephant 1950 TOB Ford patrol 1951 Bourne Patrol 2 1954 Ford Chilmark 1955 Dodge Fal C33 1957 Mashpee 253 1957 Inter Har E2 1957 Dodge Yar E6 1957 Inter Plym patrol - Great Island 1950s GMC Dennis patrol 1950s Dodge Manomet 1950s Ford Halifax 1950s Carver 24 1950s Dodge Marion E4 1962 Int/Maxim TOB 212 1965 Fal Tanker 1965 Sandwich 1967 Mashpee 1968 Otis 15 - Plymouth County Brush Trucks & Tankers - 1950s-1960s 1950s 1962 Onset PW 1964 Lakeville 1964 Marion 1960s Duxbury 1965 Wareham 1967 Middleboro Jeep 1967 Carver 1968 Wareham,/Rochester 16 - Forest Fires 1950s-1960s 1964 Carver 1965 Otis-Sandwich Forest Fire 1970s-1980s 17 - Third Generation Brush Breaker - 1967 1967 Maxim TOB Ost 216 1969 Dodge TOB Cotuit 217 18 - Second Generation Barnstable County Breakers - 1970s-1980s 1971 No1 Fal C15 1982 WB B295 19 - State Breakers - 1970s-1980s Breakers Tankers 20 - Cape Cod Breakers and Apparatus 1970s-1980s Breakers Forestry Tankers 1970 Wellfleet 90 1971 Dennis 110 1972 Otis B9 1973 Hya 84 1973 Sand 153 1973WB T296 1975 Bourne 128 1977 Bourne 130 1976 Fal B20 1976 Chilmark 1976 Dennis F105 1970s Barn B204 1970s Otis T13 21 - Plymouth County Breakers 1970s-1980s Plymouth Wareham Carver 22 - Forest Fires - 1970s-1980s Otis Fires 1990s-2000s |
RELATED LINKS
Related Links
Massachusetts DCR - Bureau of Forest
Fire Control
Forest Fire Lookout Association
History Early Fire Towers
Massachusetts Fire Tower Locations
CCFD.com - Plymouth Brush Breaker Drill April 2006
CCFD.com - Plymouth-Wareham Brush Fires May 2006
CCFD.com
- Sandwich Fire Tower 2006
NOTE
Photos in this series are from various sources
including fire department and personal collections.
RELATED FEATURES
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The Story of Brush Breakers
Apparatus Index Page
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