The return of Engine 17

Last year late in the Summer I discovered the front tires were deteriorating, and the breakdown was rapid. Without funds handy to replace the 11R22.5's she had to sit. The cracks got so large that I feared a blowout, so I blocked up her front and deflated the tires.

Seeing a fire engine on blocks is a sad, sad sight. I feel so much guilt every time I look at her!

Then, sometime over the winter, one of my rather young children apparently turned the battery on to play with the pretty lights, and didn't turn it off. By the time I discovered this, the batteries had to have been drained completely dead for weeks. Not sure the batteries will be recoverable or not, that is a little outside of my area of expertise.

However, a friendly benefactor has come forward to assist me with purchasing replacement tires and possibly batteries if needed, and I have a good "in" with a local firefighter who works on large trucks who is willing to bring a service rig up to the house to replace 17's tires on the spot.

Hopefully she'll be back on the road soon so that the tales may continue.

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A couple of years ago I registered at alfowners.com so I could get help from the members there. At some point I requested a change to my username, which was granted, but my login never worked again. The password recovery script just locked up with a database error for the longest time. Now it appears to go through, but email ever arrives. No email address was provided for the admin. New registrations were disabled. I have been locked out of alfowners.com for well over a year. I've dropped some notes on Facebook to try to find out who runs the place to get that fixed. If any of you, my faithful and patient readers, happen to know who that is, please let me know.

Ending the Hiatus, and a Tale of Fun

Man it has been soooooo long since I posted, I am so sorry.  I resolved that I needed to write something and get back in the groove, and then noticed that it is two days short of a year since the last post.  I have failed to keep you all entertained and informed, I hope you can forgive.

After obtaining the collection detailed in the previous post, it has been a little more fun to be out and about in an old fire engine that is no longer naked.  The big master stream device, the hard suction, the ladders, and various hoses packed where they go, all makes a better picture.

Speaking of pictures, I have a new camera phone and will try to remember to get some new pics with the equipment installed.

And of course, the Tale of Fun:

My daughter asked if I could take her to the Homecoming dance in E17, and the answer was a resounding Of course.  How about eight people?  Well, not enough seatbelts for that, so we compromised.

E17 arrived at the local burger drive-in a mile or so from the dance, and picked up the party.  Thanks to having the new stuff from the Equipment Grab, there were now four sets of old turnouts available, and the guys in the group each donned a yellow lid to go over their tuxes.  Brilliant.  Everyone piled into the hosebed, and we proceeded slowly and carefully towards the high school.

The kids were waving and hollering hello at everyone they saw, and of course everyone waved back.  Who doesn't wave at kids riding on a fire engine?

But the best part was the arrival.  You see, everyone who is someone at Homecoming wants to impress their dates with stretch limos and stretch Lincolns and stretch Hummers, making a scene as small groups arrive in their fancy rides.

So, there's a long line of a few hundred teenagers waiting in line at the door to get in as expensive cars continue to arrive, and suddenly...

Engine 17 is on scene.

Yes, as we pulled through the parking lot, lights and siren came on and we drove right up to the front door, delivering the eight most-noticed dance attendees of the night.

After that, all those spendy rides were just a long line of cars for the commoners.  You can't beat a fire engine entrance.

For the win.  Have fun at the dance, kids.

Equipment Grab

So, Dad called me out of the blue yesterday. I'm at the fire department's surplus sale, he says, and asks what I might need, and describes some of the stuff lying around. And the prices. Dirt cheap prices!!

He cleaned up, and sounds like he had more fun than even I would have had. He only found out about the sale the day before, not enough time for me to arrange to be there myself.

Long story short, through the silent-bid process he secured the following for Engine 17:

A ground base for securing a deluge monitor.

A 2.5" siamese.

A 2.5" threaded to 3" Storz elbow.

A triple 2.5" inlet deluge monitor. $150!

Twenty-one lengths of miscellaneous hose. Some are knotted (damaged or unfit for use) but this stuff is mainly for decoration, so it is perfect. $5/roll!

Three lengths hard suction, $15 each (only have room for two, so the odd one is up for re-sale at cost). Three ladders, also $15 each. I would have liked a roof ladder and an extension ladder, but I'm not complaining, since E17 presently has zero ladders.

They also have numerous sets of older used turnouts for sale, but without the proper credentials (active FF and note from your agency to prove it) you can't buy them on the spot. I can arrange the credentials easy, so if the price is right I might grab 2-4 sets for costume use when I have riders in a parade of some such.

Score! Thanks Dad!

Also have a neighbor who is thinking about loaning 17 for standby duty while he does some logging nearby. Depending on cost, we may arrange for him to repair 17's tank-to-pump leak and pneumatic pump shift actuator - making it pump capable for his needs - as payment. We shall see.

Summer is pretty much here. Fingers crossed for progress.

Summer is here

Engine 17 has been out three times in the past couple of weeks, running short errands to get the winter crud blown out, and ferrying kids to various events where they delighted in the splash of showing up or disembarking in a fire engine.

Too much fun!

Anyway, this post serves to let you know we're still here. Hoping to get a few things done in the coming weeks and months of good weather. Stay tuned.

Wearing a Fire Engine Disguise

I took my daughter to the high school playoff football game, so she could hang out with her friends. I dropped her off in our little car. The lot was beyond full when we arrived, and the entrance was barricaded. I pulled up alongside the barricades, completely outside of any moving traffic, to let her out. She was rummaging for something for a minute, and a school security person walked over and rapped on my window, telling me to move along.

Now maybe there was a legitimate reason I couldn't be there, but I haven't thought of it yet. I was still in the driver's seat, she was getting out, the car was running, lights on, not remotely appearing that I might be thinking of parking there. But OK, no problem, she grabbed her stuff and I left.

Near the end of the game, she called to tell us she was almost ready to be picked up. I heard her friends chattering, and offered to bring 17 down to pick her up and take some of her friends home. She was all aboard for that plan.

I had completely forgotten about the barricades and security people by the time I arrived, but just as I approached and saw them, trying to figure out where to park, they saw me and just automatically grabbed the barricades, moving them out of the way and waving me through.

Well, OK then!

So I picked up my kid and several of her friends right at the ticket gate. It made quite a scene, not unlike when I picked my boys up after school one day.

Picking your kid up in a fire engine and also taking some of her friends home raises her stock, as well as your own in her eyes and those of her friends, especially the guys. For real? Your dad owns a fire truck? Big fun was had by all, especially since the home team won big.

I promise I wasn't trying to play the traffic folks, really, but that was just too funny to not share.

The Ripening of Squad 6

One of the biggest tasks in the Engine 17 project is getting her painted red again, or "ripened", from the lime-yellow coat she currently wears.

While that major task awaits, the other unit at my place was successfully ripened today.

As a result of a consolidation of fire protection agencies, the older apparatus in the district still bore markings from the two previous agencies that came together to form a new one. Squad 6 was one of them.


In every other case, the contractor was able to simply remove the old markings and apply new ones, in some cases extending a white stripe on the door with stock decal material. Squad 6 was the only unit, in the 22-vehicle fleet of various colors, that was white with a painted lime-yellow stripe, and the contractor had no stock lime-yellow that would match.

Solution? Cover the entire stripe with a new color. Hey, how about red?

She looks nice with her new stripe, doesn't she?

Welcome, PNW SPAAMFA members

I got my periodic SPAAMFA PNW newsletter the other day, sat down with the pile of mail to peruse through it.

There, on the second page, with no advance warning, was a couple of paragraphs about Engine 17, her history, and how she came to be in my possession.

I didn't write it. I don't know who did, but they seem to know a lot about me. Oh wait, I think I've about spilled my soul right here in this blog. I'm a bit crazy and I own my own fire engine. What else is there?

What's new? Well, 17 has been given a clean bill of health following a detailed inspection. A few air lines need to be moved so they don't rub, but otherwise she is in remarkably great condition, mechanically. Also found some vintage (heavy!) 2.5" hose sections that are loaded so she isn't quite as naked. Love the classic brass couplings.

That's really all there is for now. If you came here from the SPAAMFA newsletter, nice to see you here. Things will be slow over the winter unless I get some historical stuff to talk about. Otherwise, the project is going into hibernation until Spring. Stay tuned.