The Bow Fire Department is all settled in its new home at the Bow Safety Center. And thanks to firefighters Brandon Skoglund and David Eastman, the department has something pretty cool hanging in its kitchen area.
About a year ago, Skoglund saw a story about another fire department that had used an old hose that was out of service to create an American flag. He thought it was a cool idea, and when there was a couple sections of hose that didn’t meet the department’s specifications, Skoglund grabbed it and brought it home with the hopes of doing the project for Bow Fire.
Fast forward to early June, when the department was moving into the new digs and Skoglund finally decided to follow through on the project.
Since he and Eastman work 24 hour shifts, they began it one day on the job, but quickly realized this would be a time consuming project that would be better done during off-hours time. Plus, with moving into the safety center, there was a lot of setting up to be done.
Skoglund said they identified the perfect spot for it, between two windows that overlook the front parking lot in the kitchen/hang out area, but there was also talk of it being a prime location for the department’s flat screen. But in the end, the TV went elsewhere and the flag took the spot.
“Between the windows was kind of the perfect width,” Skoglund said.
It had to follow the recommended ratio for an American flag, which according to usflag.org is 1:1.9.
“I was pretty picky with the way that it would be done,” Skoglund said.
After pressure-washing the hose, they cut 13 lengths of hose at 64 inches long – 60 inches for the width of the flag and 2 inches to wrap around either side of the plywood to secure it with screws. They also left the couplings (which is were the hoses connect) for added affect.
“I wanted to incorporate them,” Skoglund said. “It gives it a little bit more character.”
They first tried to spray the hose with a glossy primer, but had to switch it up and use a roller. It took two coats of primer and a few coats each of the red and blue to get the desired brightness.
“The nylon absorbed a lot of paint. We had to get another can of primer,” Skoglund said.
The 50 stars were painted by hand, and while not all of them came out perfect, Skoglund let it slide.
“The imperfections made it unique,” Skoglund said.
The coolest thing of all, outside of the fact that Skoglund and Eastman made an American flag out of old hose, is that they finished it just in time to hang it up on the Fourth of July.
As for making anymore American flags out of retired fire hose in his future?
“People keep telling me I should look into it as a money maker,” Skoglund said. “But it works better as a little, one-time project.”
July 26, 2017
Well done men! You ROCK…..