..

Pictured here are Melvin Monismith and Joe Bishop during a training session on "hittin' the plug"....this would be a common site in the fire department from the beginning of motorized rigs in town. It was the first skill any new member was taught.

This is from around 1970. The standard 2 1/2" hydrant lay with the assorted equipment needed strapped to the hose. Shown here is a hydrant wrench, spanner wrench, and 2 double males. The one double male was a standard 2 1/2" by 2 1/2" used if by change you reverse layed with the hydrant lay. The other was a 2" X 2 1/2" double male to be used on hydrants that had a single female port on them. There were several of these in the Borough into the early 70's.

Riding the tailboard back then there was a discussion among the riders as to who was hitting the plug. Also in those days, the hydrant man connected the line as soon as possible and charged the line. A second person would have taken care of putting the hose clamp on the line layed at the engine so the hose bed did not get charged before it was disconnected and put into an intake on the engine.