~ THE TORRENT NO. 1 ~
Plaque in foyer of Fire House
Hand Carved Carved by Fire Fighter Adrian Temple
900 hundred hours using only hand tools
The Torrent No. 1 - just after major restoration by Paul Polewacyk and several volunteersTorrent 1
A hand operated fire pumper, built by the Howard & Davis Co. of Boston, Massachusetts. This was one of three purchased brand new in 1849 by the town of Marlborough. This pumper was used in the Easterly Village and was housed in a barn to the rear of 18 Main Street. This Engine Company under the direction of their forman Sylvester Bucklin, incorporated about thirty or fourty members who pulled the pumper by hand to many fires and operated it once there. The Torrent 1 was in service for twenty years until it's retirement in 1869. It was put into storage and was used as a reserve piece and then later sold around the 1900's.
In 1989 it was located, bought and returned to the City of Marlborough. It has been completely restored to it's original condition and is capable of a 150 foot stream of water. Restoration was completed by Paul Polewacyk, a Marlborough Firefighter. Torrent 1 is privately owned and is cared for by the Ancient and Honorable Fire Brigade of Marlborough, Massachusetts.
BEFORE RESTORATION
Marlborough Fire Fighters Adrian Temple and Paul Polewacyk adjust position of Torrent No. 1
An 1848 model fire truck which has been returned to the City. When it was last used, between
1849 and 1859, it required 16 firemen to operate. Story below.Truck returns 130 years later
Marlboro buys back old fire engine
by Beth Marchese - News correspondent for the Middlesex News
MARLBORO - After 130 years, three firefighters have brought Torrent No. 1, one of the city's first fire engines, home to rest.
"This dates back 1849 to 1859," firefighter Paul Polewacyk said. "We think it is the oldest fire engine in the city by the Howard & Davis Company of Boston, but we are not very sure it is the oldest fire engine in Marlboro. But we are guessing it is one of the oldest." Polewacyk, along with fellow firefighters, Dick Tremblay and Thomas Byrn, bought the fire engine from the Society for the Preservation of New England
Antiques, Fire Chief Ed Bigelow said."The Society had bought it from a private collector who wanted the fire engines to go back to their home communities. A group or society in town who wanted to buy them for preservation could. At least that's the agreement I had with them," Bigelow said.
Though Polewacyk doesn't know the identity of the 94-year-old man selling the fire engines through the Society, he does know most of the engines were bought before World War 1. "He probably couldn't see the government scrapping these old engines for the war effort to build tanks. He probably bought them to spite the government and to preserve them," Polewacyk said. "You figure, this has been. in storage for 69 years and it's still in amazingly good condition," he said.
According to Polewacyk, the 7 foot-tall wood-and-iron pump was pulled by a team of men to a fire. Another team of firefighters would follow behind with a "hose tender," essentially a wagon with the hose wrapped around a pole. Polewacyk said the hose tender, skis and the engine's bell will be delivered later, once the Society finds them in the Norwell barn where the engine was stored. He wouldn't reveal the purchase price.
"What is amazing is this thing was a functional machine. I worked a similar pump in Southboro once and I was tired afterwards," Polewacyk said. About 16 men, eight on each side, would pump the water from a local water source. It would travel through the pumping mechanism and out the other side of the wagon through the hose onto the fire, he said. When the fire pump wasn't in use, the drawbar and the pumping handles could be removed and placed in the wagon. During the winter, the wheels could be removed and skis substituted.
See additional pictures of the Torrent No. 1
(in process)