Fire Fighting

The Extinguisher was used by the Great Bolton Fire Brigade between 1826 and 1838. It was also used to fight fires in Little Bolton and in some of the townships outside Bolton.

It was normally drawn by a single horse, but as the engine was required for local farms and other premises outside of the borough, it was often necessary to obtain a fresh horse en route. To this end a saddle was carried on the engine in order that a fireman could ride the horse after it had been changed for a fresh one.

After its career with the Bolton Fire Brigade, the engine was bought by the bleaching company of Thomas Hardcastle and Co., of Firwood, Bolton. The current “1838” lettering and livery date from this purchase and not the building of the fire engine. Many local textile mills had their own private fire brigades to deal quickly with fires. Mills were at great risk of catching fire because of the presence of dry cotton and because of the large amounts of wood used in their construction.

One of the biggest fires this engine attended was at the Firwood Works Stove Department in 1905 where it worked with another engine for 15 hours. The Superintendent of the Firwood Brigade had three changes of clothing saturated and received 7shillings and 6 pence for his efforts at the blaze.

The engine is essentially a mobile pump. Water is collected and forced out by rocking the red bars at each side up and down. These work two pistons inside the engine. One piston creates a vacuum to suck water from a nearby source. The other piston creates great amounts of pressure to force water out through a hose at the fire. To achieve full power, 8 men are needed on each side to pump the bars.  Apparently, bystanders were often called upon to help man the pump and would be paid with beer for their assistance.

The supply of beer to firemen and bystanders was sometimes too liberal. In the early days of fire fighting, firemen were generally a disorganised bunch of men not averse to brawling and drunkenness along with their bravery.