Elevating Platforms: A Fire Apparatus Photo Gallery

by Paul Barrett

Cherry-pickers were a good way for firemen to get to places that traditional aerial ladders weren't able to reach. This led to the revolutionary elevating platform, or "Snorkel", as they were referred to by many firemen. They have served many departments large and small across North America over the last 45 years. At the height of their popularity they were seen on the front covers of newspapers across the country bringing major fires under control and rescuing people. Elevating platforms, with their articulating booms and large area platforms, offer firemen the flexibility to be positioned in places that would otherwise be impossible to reach. They can deliver a 1000 gallons of water per minute through a master stream to the seat of the fire or quickly rescue victims from upper floors. A concise history of each company that built elevated platorms is provided along with a photographic timeline of the various rigs they were built on. This book features such companies as the Pitman Snorkel, American Lafrance Aero-Chief, Hi-Ranger, Calavar, and Bronto Skylifts. It also covers a few remaining companies that each built only a small number of elevating platforms. This book documents their beginnings in 1958 up to the impressive articulating platforms of today.

160 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2006