The Snorkel was a very popular item in the 60's and 70's. Most major cities had at least one. Today, they
have pretty much been replaced by tower ladders.
The Snorkel was invented by the Chicago Fire Department in the late 1950's. The first Snorkel is preserved in the
South Charleston, SC fire museum as part of the American LaFrance collection.
An obvious advantage was the ability to reach over the top of buildings or stop at windows and evacuate people or fight
a fire. They made excellent water towers.
The taller Snorkels, 85' and higher, had very long overhangs and were tough to get in and out of tight spaces.
They also had a limited reach from the street of no more than the length of the upper boom, or 35' to 40'. This limited
their usefulness to big cities where the buildings were near the street.
Most have been purchased by tree trimming companies or painting contractors. We are fortunate to have an unmolested
example of this very important part of fire apparatus history.
Snorkel type apparatus were made by several companies. Snorkel made theirs in St. Joseph, Missouri on a variety
of custom and commercial chassis. American LaFrance made their version called the "Aero Chief". Hy Ranger made
one that was easily distinguished by it's lattice style construction. Many of those were built on Ward LaFrance chassis.
