Back in the spring of 2014, the motor of the city's 1928 Seagrave ladder/tiller firetruck - Modesto No. 1 - rumbled to life for the first time in decades. Some veteran Modesto firefighters including Jim Gunn and Brian Whitcomb made it happen, getting an important chunk of Modesto history up and running again.
Gunn ended his 37-year career with the Modesto Fire Department just a few days after I wrote a column about their rejuvenation of the truck, which requires a driver to steer from the rear as well as the one in the front. Whitcomb continues to work on it, and now has it running so well that it takes eye-opening excursions down McHenry Avenue and through the neighborhoods that lead back toward the firehouse near the corner of Briggsmore and McHenry avenues.
Modesto city officials would love to see the old Seagrave – one of only two known trucks of its type west of the Rockies – motoring down I Street during parades, and you can bet the local city pols would be clamoring for the high-profile ride-alongs. It would be a tremendous public relations tool for the city. Restoring it something close to its original grandeur – paint and patina, polished brass and restored ladders and accessories – would be spectacular, too.
Decisions need to be made soon, though. No one – most of all Whitcomb and the others who have worked on it – wants to see the truck left idle, stored in some nondescript warehouse and virtually forgotten again.
After my column appeared, people began stopping by the fire station, located just yards away from where another piece of Modesto’s history, the Burchell Fountain, once gurgled. They wanted a closer look at the truck, purchased by the city in 1928 and used into the 1960s. Many visitors told the firefighters they remembered it fondly from their youth. Some individuals and others representing service clubs, Whitcomb said, offered to contribute money toward restoration. Local body shop owner Brent Burnside met with the fire crew in May to assess what it might take to restore the paint and patina.
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Posted: Jan 9, 2017
An Asheville fire truck slammed into the front of the Kitchen's Unlimited store Saturday after sliding off New Leicester Highway. The front of the truck went into the front of the building. The driver was transported by ambulance with reported minor injuri
The front of the truck went into the front of the building. The driver was transported by ambulance with reported minor injuries according to a spokesperson for the department.
An eyewitness contacted News 13 and said he saw the truck slide off the road and into the store.
To the south in Fletcher, Jeff Hanke owner of Top Notch Towing, said he was called to more than 20 cars that included drivers who lost control on icy secondary roads. One driver, Tsianina Tovar thought she could run safely to grocery store with her kids in the car.
“It was slippery,” said Tovar. “ t was already ice. We shouldn’t have been out. We had our kids with us, and did a quick errand, and they said 'we never go out the day after a storm' and we said, yes see this is why what were we thinking!”
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Posted: Jan 9, 2017
While Fire Chief Brian Brank didn't have a set date for the opening of the $4.52 million station that will service the southwestern area of the city, he said it was nearly ready for operation. "We're pressed a little bit because there are a few issues with (road) grading, but if it's presentable enough we should be on schedule for Feb.
When the Killeen Fire Department broke ground on Fire Station No. 9 in January 2016, then-Fire Chief Jerry Gardner said “it’s a great day for the city of Killeen.”
The fruits of that great day will soon be picked when the fire department officially opens its more than 13,000-square-foot station at 5400 Bunny Trail in early February.
While Fire Chief Brian Brank didn’t have a set date for the opening of the $4.52 million station that will service the southwestern area of the city, he said it was nearly ready for operation.
“We’re pressed a little bit because there are a few issues with (road) grading, but if it’s presentable enough we should be on schedule for Feb. 1,” Brank said.
Before the actual operational opening, the depart-
ment will host an opening ceremony in late January, but Brank said the department had yet to secure a date for that as well.
Brank predicted the department would settle on both dates after consulting with the city this week.
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Posted: Jan 9, 2017
A Wetting and Push-In retirement ceremony was hosted for the Refinery Terminal Fire Company's Special Unit One, a firetruck used specifically for brush fires and blazes away from hydrants. The ceremony included the washing of the wheels of the new Brush One fire truck with the hose from the retired Special Unit One.
A Wetting and Push-In retirement ceremony was hosted for the Refinery Terminal Fire Company's Special Unit One, a firetruck used specifically for brush fires and blazes away from hydrants.
The ceremony included the washing of the wheels of the new Brush One fire truck with the hose from the retired Special Unit One. The ceremony concluded with firefighters pushing the retired truck into one of the bays at the training facility.
The retired fire truck will be serviced before being donated to the Ricardo Volunteer Fire Department in Kleberg County through the National Forestry Service.
“It’s always an honor to take part in these ceremonies,” Refinery Terminal fire chief Paul Swetish said. “We’re excited that the retired Special Unit One is staying in service with the Ricardo Volunteer Fire Department.”
The ceremony is considered a tradition among firefighters.
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Posted: Jan 9, 2017
When the Skagit County commissioners organized a group of 24 to look at the future of emergency medical services, many thought it was an opportunity for candid talk about the county’s ambulance systems.
Now, after a meeting in late December where the commissioners went against a recommendation to continue looking at how emergency medical services should be governed, some members of that group are feeling their eight months of work was all for nothing.
- PUB DATE: 1/9/2017 4:22:02 AM - SOURCE: Skagit Valley Herald (GoSkagit.com)
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