<P> By 1730, Richard Newsham, in London, had made successful fire engines; he invented the first ones used in New York City (in 1731) (this was six years before formation of the NYC volunteer fire department). The amount of manpower and skill necessary for firefighting prompted Benjamin Franklin to found an organized fire company in 1737 . Thomas Lote built the first fire engine made in America in 1743 . These earliest engines are called hand tubs because they are manually (hand) powered and the water was supplied by a bucket brigade dumping it into a tub (cistern) where the pump had a permanent intake pipe . An important advancement around 1822 was the invention of an engine which could draft water from a water source . This rendered the bucket brigade obsolete . In 1822, a Philadelphia - based manufacturing company called Sellers and Pennock made a model called "The Hydraulion". It is said to be the first suction engine . Some models had the hard, suction hose fixed to the intake and curled up over the apparatus known as a squirrel tail engine . </P> <P> The earliest engines were small and were either carried by four men, or mounted on skids and dragged to a fire . As the engines grew larger they became horse - drawn and later self - propelled by steam engines . John Ericsson is credited with building the first American steam - powered fire engine . John Braithwaite built the first steam fire - engine in Britain . </P> <P> Until the mid-19th century, most fire engines were maneuvered by men, but the introduction of horse - drawn fire engines considerably improved the response time to incidents . The first self - propelled steam pumper fire engine was built in New York in 1841 . Unfortunately for the manufacturers, some firefighters sabotaged the device and its use of the first engine was discontinued . However, the need and the utility of power equipment ensured the success of the steam pumper well into the twentieth century . Many cities and towns around the world bought the steam fire engines . </P> <P> Motorized fire engines did not become commonplace until the early 20th century . By 1905, the idea of combining gas engine motor trucks into fire engines was attracting great attention; according to a Popular Mechanics article in that year, such trucks were rapidly gaining popularity in England . That same year, the Knox Automobile Company of Springfield, Massachusetts, began selling what some have described as the world's first modern fire engine . A year later, the city of Springfield, Illinois, had filled their fire department with Knox engines . </P>

When did the first american steam-powered fire engine come into service