Sparkless Sal, first motorized piece of apparatus of the Cambridge fire department, has been retired after 13 years of faithful duty, tominated a month age by a fairly substantial crash with a garbage wagon following a skid on the icy streets.

The hardy fire-enters of Cambridge were almost as sentimental over Sal as their predecessors would have been over the proverbial fire-horse of a few decades ago. Any grief that they might have felt over Sal's retirement, however, was amply dispelled by her successor, a G1-foot aerial laddor and water tower.

This $17,000 marvel of modern engineering can raise an 85 foot ladder in any desired direction, thanks to its 200 horse power Hercules engine. "One beauty of the hydraulically operated ladder," explained an elderly looking fireman, "Is that a man can perch out on the end of it before it is raised and save himself the climb."

There are only eight other Pirsch aerial ladder and water tower trucks in existence, and Chief Herman E. Gutheim has invited the chiefs of neighboring fire departments to attend a demonstration of his new acquisition on Saturday.

Before this exhibition, however, several engineers from the Peter Pirsch Co of Kenosha, Wisconsin, are instructing the firemen how to operate this intricate machine. Yesterday morning it was sent out on a trial run, and on its return to the station, the men from Kenosha demonstrated how it could be spun in a 26 foot radius.

Another new engine, a 1000-gallon-per-minute pumper and rescue truck, is expected by the department in a few days.