August 14, 2024 By Geri Duff
Forty years ago, one of the Hingham Fire Officers discovered that a firefighting foam generator could be used with simple dish detergent to make up the suds the kids run through on Foam Day at Hingham Recreation. Purchased in 1964, Firefighters Robert ‘Mutt’ Linscott and Ronald ‘Swede’ Olsen placed the MSA Foam-maker, on Engine 3, a 1954 Farrar/Ford pumper. In a 1964 interview Fire Chief Kimball said that he found this device to be practical for a small department. “Very portable, and easy to place in operation, the foam-maker can produce enough foam to cover 2,000 square feet using one gallon of high detergent foam.” This photo is from the archives of the Bare Cove Fire Museum.