Best Answer #27: from Doug Sears:
"“The first motorized Fire Fighting Apparatus was manufactured by R.S. Bickle. The company was called R.S. Bickle [Company]. Mr. Bickle’s father, Sidney V. Bickle, leased the old Woodstock Automobile Company building for one year. It was located at the south-east corner of Mill and Main streets. Later, the company moved to 30 Graham Street and in 1918 the business moved to 19 Young Street. [The final move was to 873 Devonshire Ave., in 1962.]

Associated with R.S. Bickle in his business were his two brothers, W. Russell and Beverley I. Bickle. In 1914 they were producing hook and ladder rucks. Born in Woodstock [in 1882], he was . . . educated at Woodstock Public School and Woodstock Collegiate Institute. He went to Winnipeg in 1907 as a sales representative for the United States Fire Equipment Manufacturers and, after two years, started his own manufacturing business in Winnipeg. A few years later he moved back to Woodstock, to start his own business [from July, 1913].

Bickle-made fire equipment was known in Canada from coast to coast, and many towns and cities had one or more pieces of Bickle apparatus. Mr. Bickle’s greatest industrial achievement was in being the originator of the All-Canadian-Built Fire Apparatus.

He died in 1949 while on vacation in the U.S.A. The company went through many changes over the years. The first change [in 1923] was [from] R.S. Bickle Company [to] Bickle Fire Engine Limited; in 1936, to Bickle-Seagrave Limited; in 1956, to King-Seagrave Limited; in 1986, to Amertek Inc., and finally in 1993, the demise of the company. "

Sources:
- Woodstock Public Library, Archives microfilm – Sentinel-Review: July 25, 1913; July 30, 1949
- Vernon’s Woodstock Directory, 1914 - Doug Symons, ‘The Village That Straddled A Swamp,’
- Williams and Baker, ‘Woodstock Bits and Pieces’