History of Tools Carried by FDNY Rescue 2 & Kentland FD

[RWC130 594]

As a tribute to Lt Pete Lund, FDNY Rescue 2 (Retired) here is some cool history about tools that FDNY Rescue 2 and Kentland FD Tower 33 carry. (Tools designed by Pete Lund)

The information below is from the Kentland FD website. The articles were all written by Pete Lund.

"Lund Bar"

The Lund Bar has an interesting history. Due to union agreements in the FDNY, the officers are permitted to carry a small tool for personal use only. I felt that I wanted a tool with a little heft to it so I approached the charter members of “JAF” and asked them to shrink a Halligan tool down for me so as not to cause union problems on the fire floor.

We simply took the middle 6" or 8" out of the center of the tool, prepared it for welding by bringing the two pieces to a point (to insure better welds)and then rejoined the two pieces with welds. After having one made for me, and seeing the success of the tool, other officers asked the men of “JAF” to make one for them. After the welds had been ground down and made smooth, we put the finishing touches on the tool by first putting a line of wrapped medical tape under a layer of thick, rubber electrical tape to make the tool easier to grip. In the past couple of years, the tools have been made by Jimmy Jaget, Sam Melisi and Vinnie Tavella for me – I have tried not to burden any one of our expert welders too much!!!

Interestingly enough, I have noticed that Firemark Tools is now marketing a 20" Halligan Bar in their catalog but it was Jackass Fabrications that was in the forefront several years ago with this tool!!!  

 

"Vulcan Tool"

 

You think it is easy coming up with names for these tools? Well, the Vulcan Tool was a true test of originality!!! Once again, the “Boys of JAF” outdid themselves. The original design came from an idea created by Mark Gregory of Rescue 2. He was looking for a better tool for the Roofman to take to the roof and he came up with the idea of cutting the adz and fork ends of the Halligan tool and putting them on about a 5' piece of steel rebar. Well, it didn’t take long for us to come up with something a little better. The present day Vulcan Tool consists of a 5' steel New York Roof hook with a chisel end (which we have removed) and the fork end of the Halligan bar. Our first attempts to make the tool a little stronger included a steel sleeve that was placed over the weld and then pinned and welded in place. The problem was that it a considerable amount of weight to the tool. So we went back to the drawing board and came up with the present design and it seems to be working quite satisfactorily. We have taken the chisel end off the roof hook and drilled two holes in the handle of the hook. We have taken the adz end off the Halligan bar and ground it down slightly so that it fits neatly inside the handle of the steel shaft of the hook. We tack weld the handle of the adz end in place through the two holes we drilled in the handle and then put a bead of weld around the entire “joint” to strengthen the point of connection up. It has lightened the tool up considerably and made the tool a fine addition to the tool inventory of Tower 33. So who is “Vulcan”? Any good, self-respecting mythology student knows the answer to that one – Vulcan is the God of Fire and Volcanoes!!!!!!

"Lincoln Bar"

 

So what is “the Lincoln Bar” that is carried on Tower 33 and where did it come from? Well, the birth of the Lincoln Bar actually took place back in the early 1980s in the FDNY’s Rescue Company 2 in Brooklyn, better know as “The Boro of Fire.” The originator was actually Glenn Harris of Rescue 2 and his idea was simple – he took two Halligan bars, cut off the fork end of one, the adz end of the other and welded the two pieces together. When combined, essentially what you ended up with is a 54" Halligan bar. The uses were endless BUT you had to be a weightlifter to use the tool because when Glenn had the two pieces welded together, he had a sleeve added to cover the weld and it added a considerable amount of weight to the tool. But it was great for pulling ceilings, especially tin ceilings; it gave a huge amount of leverage IF you had the room to force a tough door in the “PJs” (the Brooklyn project buildings like the Albany Houses on Bergen Street right down the block from the new quarters of Rescue 2). In fact, some guys liked to carry the Harris Tool instead of the 6' wooden hook when they carried the can if Rescue 2 was “first due” in the projects – the thinking being “what am I going to do with a 6' hook in the projects – no ceilings to pull!!! The Harris Tool was also good on the roof when prying roof boards after a roof had been cut or when prying up a tough scuttle cover.  

Well, that’s the background on the tool – now where does Lincoln Quappe come into the picture. Well, many years ago (back in the “War Years” of the late 1960s and early 1970s), the FDNY was loaded with what I termed a lot of “colorful characters”. Over the years, the FDNY lost a lot of these color characters through attrition and it was something that I always missed. Well, Lincoln Quappe was a “throwback” to those years – he was our modern day answer to the colorful characters that our job so sorely missed. Lincoln came to Rescue 2 after fine tuning his skills at Ladder 123, right in our own backyard; and one thing became evident about Lincoln right away – he loved to “putter” and “tinker” around the firehouse. He loved to take things apart and see what made them tick. He loved to test new tools to ensure that they were actually “fireman proof.” But one of his greatest loves was to weld. In fact, the workshop at Rescue 2 became known as “Jackass Fabrications” (better known as “JAF”) because of all of the things that Lincoln fashioned out of scraps. No one that worked with Lincoln will ever forget his rendition or should I say “collection” of Barnyard Animals....these creations were some of the best works of JAF. Anyway, I asked Lincoln to fashion one of the Harris Tools for me for Tower 33 in his spare time and he obliged. But being the master creator that he was, he managed to make the weld strong enough so that the sleeve and consequently, the additional weight were eliminated. He made a great grip out of rubber Con Edison tape and Tower 33 was the proud owner of a second generation Harris Tool – minus the additional weight and they coined it “The Lincoln Bar.” And then, on 9-11, Lincoln was unceremoniously ripped away from us at Rescue 2 along with six of his other Rescue 2 brothers, the victims of the bombing and collapse of the WTC. We took a big hit that day but losing Lincoln was one of the toughest losses of all.  

He was true “character” in very sense of the word – he had an incredible sense of humor, he was always involved in some sort of kitchen prank. He was a terrific firefighter – he was probably one of the most tenacious firefighters that I ever had the pleasure of working with at Rescue 2.

"Melisi Bar"

So what do we do with the “leftover” adz end of the Halligan bar after we make the “Vulcan Tool” you ask? Well, it is simple – we take it to the resident expert welder at Rescue 2, none other than Sam Melisi, and have his work some of his magic. Sammy is not only one of the most talented people that I had been fortunate enough to work with in my career but he is also one of the most creative! When posed with the dilemma of having all these extra parts of the Halligan bars after we made all of the Vulcan Tools, we took the problem to Sammy for some fast thinking. Lo and behold, Sammy came up with a way to “fatten” the adz end of a Halligan bar up and give it considerably more leverage when used to exert downward pressure while forcing an inward opening door. Not only will it do that, but it also gives more “bite” on the bar when forcing an outward opening door also. So how did Sammy accomplish this? Not a big problem for him at all. He merely took a portable band saw and cut the adz end off the parts left. Then, he put the adz in the vise at “JAF” (Jackass Fabrications) and cut the adz two more times lengthwise, thus yielding three separate pieces, each about ¾” wide. Then, he worked his magic with the arc welder and added a ¾” piece on to the adz end of one of our existing Halligan bars. He then put his talents to work with his 4” grinder and came up with what you see here. A modified and much improved version of our original Halligan bar; as you can see from the attached pictures, it is quite apparent that Sammy is excellent with his grinder also! There is barely any evidence at all that the tool was modified with the additional piece. The man is a genius! And now we have another “unique” tool to add to our repertoire on Tower 33. I am sure it is going to get much good use within the bounds of the Tower 33’s response district!

Pete Lund

Peter B. Lund

April 20, 1951 to June 14, 2005