In a cramped room at the back of the Spokane Fire Department Training Complex, Tom Heckler houses artifacts dating back more than a century. "They always told me, they can't build a museum," Heckler said, seated in a chair next to a humming tower server that fills part of his 300-square-foot exhibit.
A 1977 LaFrance truck has been housed in a surplus yard at the training center, exposed to the heavy snowfall along with other high-mileage engines that have been removed from service. Last week, Heckler climbed into the cab, lifting the hood behind firefighter jump seats to reveal the engine and lamenting that the radio had already been removed, because it belongs to Spokane County.
The '77 engine was last in regular service in 2001, Stockdill said; it was in reserve status until 2010. Two of the department's other trucks of the same make and model were sold to Guatemala in 2011 at a price of $1.