My Book……………..LILAGCS (9)

October 26, 2010

Living in a Fire Station was Unique

Not every kid has the opportunity to live at a fire station like I did, and as I look back it was a very exciting experience.

                                        

Playing on the fire trucks whenever I want to was another benefit I experienced... This, of course, was before OCIA and all their safety rules.

The fire station itself was a very interesting place. Down on the ground floor was where two very large fire trucks were parked waiting for the next time they would be called to action. My dad was assigned to the Laverne fire truck when we first moved there.

                                                               

The Fire Station was an Interesting Place

The fire station itself was a very interesting place. Down on the ground floor was where two very large fire trucks were parked waiting for the next time they would be called to action. My dad was assigned to the Laverne fire truck when we first moved there. Ted, the other full-time fireman was assigned to a smaller and older fire truck. A pull cord next to the trucks opened the large doors at the front of the station. One pull and they would rise to allow the trucks to pass out of the station. I recall there were large springs that allowed the doors to open automatically. This was again before all the new electronic automation.

The main part of the garage portion (where the fire trucks were parked) was large to me at the age of 3, of course. In the rear behind the trucks was a rack where the firemen placed their boot, raincoats right next to mine! There was also a very large workbench where Ted repaired things, I guess. Ted did most of the repair work there at the fire station because my dad was working, when he was not ‘on call’ as a mechanic for my grandpa Rich during the day.

At the very rear of the ground level was an area where mom and dad did our laundry. There was also a shower room, again, very large to me, used where firemen could shower. There were also lockers placed there for the personal items belonging to the firemen.

Dad Always Helped with the Laundry

Dad always helped mom with the laundry, when he was home in the evenings, because, I guess it was very dark and a little scary going way back there in the dark.

                                                  

I remember we had a Maytag wringer type washing machine. There were also two rinse tubs that my grandpa Rich had made for mom out of two barrels to go with our old Maytag washing machine. They had drain spouts on the bottom and I am sure if he had patented them he could have very easily. Cold water was placed in them to rinse the laundry soap out of the washed clothes.

In the winter and when it was too cold to hang the clothes outside to dry, they were hung in the same room where the washing machine was. In the summer and when the weather was such that they would dry outside, there was a small patch of grass out side under the cloth lines.