99/10/28

Yesterday we retired Pumper 31

We retire our fire apparatus after 20 years of service now. It wasn’t always like that; often they used to serve until they were worn out, then got replaced.

Retiring a firetruck is a sad event.

It’s not like trading in the sedan on a newer model. Many of us genuinely love these trucks. We develop special relationships with them just like we develop special relationships with one another. Many of us owe our lives to them, some of us many times over. The trucks get us to the call in any weather, and any time of the day or night. They pump the water that protects us in the heat, they carry our equipment, they keep us warm, they keep us dry. These trucks delight the children that we let sit in the driver’s seat, and, our dead firefighters are carried to the cemetery with their casket in the hose bed. We polish them and clean them, we compare trucks with each other, all of us knowing that OUR truck is the best.

When a firetruck is retired, it is driven into a truck bay, and all useful equipment is taken from it. It’s a hard thing to do because right from day one we are taught to keep all trucks ready for instant response. All equipment must be in place and correct. None of us feel comfortable with empty bins.

The last act is to remove the hoses and empty the water tank. I don’t know how the tradition started, but in our department, it’s the senior members present that pull off the hoses. The metallic smacks of the metal couplings hitting the concrete floor echoes hollowly in the silence. After all this has taken place it’s driven to the municipal garage to await sale. Tankers are easy to sell, many rural departments don’t care how old a truck is, as long as it’s in good shape, and need water capacity. Pumpers on the other hand aren’t as popular, because they only carry 300-500 gallons.

Pumper 31 is a 1978 Kenworth, Built by Hub fire apparatus. When new, she was the biggest fire truck in our inventory, she was always big and loud as hell, widely recognized as the fastest truck in the fleet. No truck since has even approached her acceleration. Her age is evident in the dings and scuffs in her paint. She’s rusting out in many spots and isn’t pretty anymore.

She never let us down, ever. There is no better legacy for a firetruck.
 

Unfortunately Pumper 31 will probably be bought for scrap.

After taking P31 out of service I got to thinking about our relationships with our trucks and thought I’d post this picture.
  Me and 5-2
 

5-2 was originally built by the firefighters of Hall 5, my home hall. She entered service in 1956 after being bought with funds raised by the firefighters. One of those firefighters was my grandfather, who served with hall 5 from 1953 to 1957.

My grandfather drove 5-2 on her first call. She was retired from active service in 1982. As luck would have it, I drove her on her last call.

5-2 was very fortunate, some dedicated members bought her from the municipality for a dollar and kept her in various garages and barns for 16 years, slowly and surely restoring her all the time. Last year a new main firehall was built here, and an apparatus bay was built to house her, as the centerpiece for the department museum. The members who preserved her donated her back to the municipality last year. 5-2 is a department apparatus and is serviced and maintained at fire department expense. She’s still driven in parades many times in the spring and summer. Usually by me.

It’s easy to love a machine, but its gotta be a very special machine.
 
 
 

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