Prior to the advent of the modern motorised appliances used by Fire and Rescue NSW today (FRNSW), brigades responded to fire calls with hand (or horse) drawn devices. These manual appliances typically required at least two personnel to operate and were essential for transporting firefighting equipment to the scene of an incident. This blog will give a brief overview of the manual hose reels utilised in New South Wales firefighting efforts from the 1870s up until the 1940s. As
