Builder: Waterhouse & Lester, San Francisco

Location: Headquarters lobby

Crew: 2 - Chief and Chief’s Operator

Condition: Good, restored

This single horse drawn carriage was used by a chief and his operator, the driver, to respond to alarms, and for routine daily duties.  There are no markings on this unit to show what districts or division where this buggy served.  The buggy was retired from service between 1912 and 1922, the years that the Department made the change over from horse drawn apparatus to motorized units.

During the 1987 restoration of the buggy, the paint was carefully removed, and name of the builder, Waterhouse and Lester, was discovered on the horse tee. Waterhouse and Lester was a San Francisco carriage builder.  Also discovered during the restoration, was the patent date of 1892 stamped on the metal rigging horse connections.

The buggy was paraded by the department muster team in the San Francisco’s 1973 St. Patrick’s Day parade, and at various firemen’s musters throughout California.  The unit’s last appearance was in Sonoma in 1987 at their firemen’s muster and Chief of Department Emmet Condon was in the seat during the grand parade of apparatus.

The term “chief’s buggy” is still used in today’s department to describe the vehicle that is use by a chief for his, or her, daily work.

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