Wayne Mutza has written his second book on American Fire Apparatus aimed at the scale modeler. This volume covers Aerial Equipment and, from Don Greer’s paintings on the front and back covers to the more than 300 color and black and white images inside, it is a feast for the eye.
The introduction explains that by the late 1800s the increase in multi-story buildings brought on the organization of the first Hook and Ladder Companies. They arrived at the blaze carrying multiple ladders and pike poles, or “hooks”, for pulling down walls and ceilings. American LaFrance purchased the patent for a wagon-mounted ladder raised by a worm gear and fitted with a tiller seat from Daniel D. Hayes of the San Francisco Fire Department. The Hayes Aerial went into production in 1881.