Bangor Ladder

CHANGE IN ORIGINAL MISSION: TB's goal is to come home for a "check up." Goal: To reach the Out of the Ashes cache in Unity, Maine.



Travel to areas that have experienced "Great Fires" and "Great Disasters."

I have a tag attached to this TB listing out some of the places I hope the TB will travel to in 2006. Some of these places include Chicago (IL), Peshtigo (WI), Boston (MA), Natchez (MISS), San Francisco (CA) and several other places listed on the attached tag.

Also if someone could be so kind to take a digital photo and post it I would sincerely appreciate it . . . I didn't do so since I do not have a digital camera.

I started the Bangor Ladder TB off in Bangor, ME where I work . . . and the site of the Great Fire on April 30, 1911 that destroyed 267 buildings (including a firehouse) and left two Brewer Firefighters dead.

-----------------------------------------

The Bangor Ladder
Reprinted from information in Firemaniacs, Spring 1988


Major James M. Davis, a joiner from Bangor, Maine, is credited with designing the Bangor Ladder after he returned from the Civil War and was elected captain of the Champion Hook & Ladder Company. Davis designed the Bangor Ladder in an effort to solve the major downfall of most lengthy ladders at the time -- their tendency to fail under stress because the solid, wooden beams on early extension ladders would sag and often break at the joint of the bed and fly. Single ladders that were long enough to reach the uppermost buildings in cities were out of favor because of their great weight. Long, heavy tormentor poles (also called prongs) were used in the early days to help raise the long ladders, but these poles were often carried separately from the ladder. Davis is credited with being the first person to develop an extension ladder with permanently attached tormentor poles that would fit flush to the ladder while stored on the truck. When needed at a fire the poles would easily swing out to assist in lifting the ladder as well as stabilizing the ladder once in place.
Davis' new ladder was an immediate hit with firefighters in the Greater Bangor Area. However, it was General Joseph Smith, a Civil War Congressional Medal of Honor winner, that saw the value of Davis' ladder for a nation that was increasingly building upwards with taller and taller buildings. The General purchased Davis' interest in the ladder and set up the Bangor Extension Ladder Company.By 1890 hundreds of the Bangor Ladders were in service in most major cities. New York City purchased 200 while both Boston and Chicago had at least 50 ladders in service. Shortly after 1900 however the company went out of business after nearly 25 years of business.