Artifact of the Week: Fire Extinguisher (969.220)

Clue: When flames appear unexpectedly and they need to be put out, I’m on the wall and can be used to keep it from spreading.

Answer: Fire Extinguisher

Last week’s artifact was a ca. 1940 fire extinguisher created by the Dayton Pump Manufacturing Company and tested as number 22348 for safety by Underwriters Laboratories Incorporated. The Niagara Volunteer Fire Department recruited its first volunteers in 1816 and the first fire hall was built in Market Square (today’s Court House parking lot on Queen Street). By 1910, the firefighters built the third fire hall on Queen Street and they gave up their yearly honorariums of $10 for 32 years to pay for it. In 1936, the department acquired its first motorized truck. It is probable that fire extinguishers, like this one, were being used by locals and members of the fire department to tame a smaller flame.