FALL RIVER - It was a new venue for the Fall River Fire Museum's ninth annual Fire Truck Show and despite organizers' concerns that people wouldn't be able to find the free event, by the looks of the throngs checking out more than 20 pieces of antique and working fire apparatus, they had little to worry about.
Families wandered the grounds taking in all the mostly bright red and shiny equipment. Children played under the mist from the giant plume of water being shot out a pumper truck.
Roger Nadeau, an Acushnet resident and retired New Bedford fire chief, showed off Engine 266, a funeral fire truck. Nadeau’s nonprofit organization restored a 1986 piece of fire apparatus in honor of his brother, Fall River District Fire Chief Gerald W. Nadeau, who died in the line of duty in 2002. To date, it has been used as a hearse for the funerals of 18 active and retired firefighters.
“I built this truck in his memory so he’ll never be forgotten,” said Nadeau.
The truck includes several memorials. One that Nadeau was showing to 5-year-old Lily Veracka and 4-year-old Brody Veracka, of Westport, was a memorial to Father Mychal Judge, a chaplain of the New York City Fire Department and one of the victims of 9/11, along with 343 firefighters who died in the attacks.