OLD MARMORA FIRE TRUCK RESURFACES
/Just as the memory of Marmora’s old 1937 Bickle -Seagrave ladder truck was fading into oblivion, it has miraculously resurfaced in British Columbia!
Captain Trevor Burkitt of 108 Mile Ranch Volunteer Fire Department in British Columba, who is considering obtaining the vehicle, was looking to find out more about the vehicle. With a little research, fire equipment aficionado, Ken Buchanen advises this truck has changed hands a number of times.
Originally bought by Owen Sound Fire Department for $5, 050.00 it was but found to be underpowered and sold it to the Hamilton Fire Department in 1952 for $5,000.00, which in turn traded it when purchasing a 1964 Snorkel from an unkown seller.
Marmora wanted the Bangor ladder, (Bangor ladders are the largest ground extension ladders used in the fire service) but the seller at the time, would only sell the vehicle complete. In 1964 Marmora purchased the vehicle and eventually (year unknown) sold it back to Hamilton without the ladders. Hamilton replaced ladders with ones from an old Guelph truck and in 1990 sold it a fire service auxiliary group known as “Box 43 Society” of Hamilton.
How it got to British Columbia is still a mystery.
circa 1974
And a Little Canadian History……
Bickle Fire Engine Company / Bickle-Seagrave was a Canadian fire apparatus manufacturer located in Woodstock, Ontario.
Bickle was formed in 1915 and built their first fire truck the same year. In 1936, the company entered into a partnership with W.E. Seagrave Fire Apparatus Company, becoming Seagrave's sole distributor in Canada. Bickle changed its name to Bickle-Seagrave and built trucks on custom and commercial chassis until it went out of business in 1956. That same year, the founder's nephew, Vernon King, resurrected the company as King-Seagrave, which continued to build fire apparatus until 1985.
Sources - Dubbert, Bob, Shane MacKichan and Joel L. Gebet. Encyclopedia of Canadian Fire Apparatus. Hudson, WI: Iconografix, 2004.
