LORAIN COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENTS.
Amherst, of the Lorain, Ohio, fire departments, has thirty men; one good steamer; about 1,300 feet of hose—some of it the old leather hose bought about twenty-five years ago and still in use; two hose carts—one was bought from Elyria about twenty-five years ago, and the other a few years later. They have a ladder truck that looks as if it would take all the members to pull it, and it surely takes half the men to raise one of the ladders; they have rubber coats and boots enough and in good condition.
Elyria has seventy men. Their apparatus is the same old story; nothing new but promises. They have one steamer; one hook and ladder truck; four Babcock extinguishers; and five hose carts—of the hay seed pattern. Two of these carts are fifty years old, and the others don’t look any older. They have 2,500 feet of hose and coats and boots for most of the men. Whenever the chief goes to a fire he rides, provided he sees some one going that way with a rig; if not, he gets there the best way he can. The steamer is drawn by a team furnished by a livery near; but the rest of the apparatus gets there any way possible.
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