Ladder 8's 1941 ALF 125' aerial ladder truck (color-white), circa 1941. Shop #207. 
Ladder 8's 1941 ALF 125' aerial ladder truck (color-white), circa 1942. Shop #207. 
Front view of Ladder 8's ladder truck, crushed at the Maverick Sq. Fire, Nov. 15, 1942. Shop #207. 
Side view of Ladder 8's ladder truck, crushed at the Maverick Sq. Fire, Nov. 15, 1942. Shop #207. |
APPARATUS BY SHOP NUMBER
* The white 1942 ALF Ladder 8 rig was damaged in the collapse at a fire in East Boston on November 15, 1942. The Fire is known by many names. It's called either the "Maverick Square Fire", "Luongo's", or the "East Boston Lyceum" Fire. In the collapse, six members of the Boston Fire Department were killed. As a result of this fire, popular opinion within the department labeled the white ladder truck as 'unlucky' or a 'jinx' truck. This was in-part as a result of an earlier aerial ladder test in which the raised aerial ladder buckled and had to be cut from the turntable. ** On December 3, 1947, the rig, now painted red, and assigned to Ladder 19, was undergoing a brake test resulting from earlier jackknifing incidents. The brake test took place on the Strandway (now called Day Boulevard) in South Boston. While approaching a curve in the road, braking apparently caused the rig to roll over. Crushed underneath the rig was Ladderman Joseph Sullivan. Injured were Ladderman Joseph Babb, the apparatus chauffer, and Ladderman Arthur Spacone. The rig was immediately junked. No other white rigs have ever purchased by the city. |