Everett Taylor: Taylor's Yarns

By EVERETT TAYLOR

When the city of Tyler throws a garage sale, it could include just about everything but the kitchen sink, and one of those might be in there, too. The list for a current sale ranges from automobiles and pickups to mowers, trailers and a lot of smaller items.

The list for a current sale ranges from automobiles and pickups to mowers, trailers and a lot of smaller items.

But the thing that really catches the eye is a fire truck. Just about everybody has wanted one of those at some point in their lives.

This one is a Hendrickson Emergency One 1971-WA, 100-foot Aerial Fire Truck. With only 26,816 miles showing (not guaranteed) there ought to be plenty of road life remaining.

One might wonder who would be interested in buying an old fire truck, but the bidding already is up to at least $10,000. Interested shoppers could be smaller cities in need of some additional equipment.

And a lot of individuals apparently are on the lookout for old fire trucks, including some who like to restore them.

The East Texas Historical Fire Society has an impressive collection of old fire engines in its "ETHFS Family," including some that once were used by the Tyler Fire Department. Several society members own fire engines.

Restoration of old fire engines is one of the activities of the ETHFS. No word on whether the society or some of its members might be interested in obtaining the Tyler engine now on the market.

David Crim deserves credit for the society and its activities, along with East Texas fire history, having gained a lot of recognition in recent years through a quarterly publication, "The Back Step," now in its ninth year. The society itself has been going 26 years.

David single-handedly has researched, composed, printed and mailed the newsletter since its inception, David Schlottach, the current society president, acknowledged in "The President's Log Book," a feature of the latest edition printed in February.

"David Crim has probably forgotten more about the Tyler Fire Department than anyone else will ever hope to know," Schlottach wrote. "Having been a member of the Tyler Fire Department for more than 30 years I can say that David's efforts to research and document the history of our department is unprecedented."

Schlottach's "Log Book" item was offered to relate some of the lighter sides of fire service. It related to the term "Plug Ugly," and its origin.

In the early days of our country, he wrote, companies of men were hired by insurance companies to protect properties they insured. These bands of men only fought fires in buildings with the "Fire Mark" of their employer.

Fire insurance companies figured out it would be more advantageous to pay any band of firefighters that fought fire in one of their insured buildings, and they would pay the crew that delivered first water. This made firefighting very competitive, Schlottach related.

In most cities that had fire companies, there were water mains, which were hollowed-out logs affixed to each other and buried at the edge of streets. Fire companies had to carry a shovel and auger to get water from the main.

The shovel was to uncover the wooden fire main and the auger to tap it. After the fire fighting, a wooden plug (fire plug) was driven into the hole to mark it so it could be used again when necessary, Schlottach said.

As insurance companies banded together to pay the first company to deliver water, control of the fire plug meant money to the controlling company.

"For this reason, the fire brigades would take the biggest, meanest, ugliest member of their team and station them at the 'Plug' to protect the water supply for only their use," Schlottach wrote. "Hence the term 'Plug Ugly.'"

EVERETT TAYLOR
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