A guttural growl erupted from the Lakeland Fire Department's 1938 Pirsch Fire Engine as it leapt to life for the first time in more than 30 years. The engine, affectionately known as Leaping Lena, is the department's oldest apparatus, and Jonathan Beale made it his personal goal to make sure she wasn't just a part of the department's past but in its future as well.
Of the 1,000 1938 Pirsch 750-gallon pumpers made, Beale said, he found one in a museum and another with the original engine taken out of it. Leaping Lena is the only one he knows of that's up and running.
Lena was delivered to the department Aug. 28, 1938, and Beale said she was on the front lines fighting fires until the late 1960s. Then Lena was used for training until the late 1970s when her pistons blew and she was decommissioned.
Beale said she was painted and reupholstered in the late 1980s, but she was forgotten about and spent years in storage. Rick Hartzog, LFD's assistant chief of administration, said Lena has been sitting underneath a tarp for his entire 25-year career.
Janel Vasallo, LFD's spokeswoman, said the department knew it couldn't just ask the city for more money or take away from another service LFD provides, so they got creative in finding ways to fund Lena's restoration. A couple of old staff vehicles that could no longer be used were sent to auction, and the money was set aside for Len