By Ron Heal
Bill Blunden currently serves the national SPAAMFAA organization as executive secretary. He has been a lifelong member of the fire service, growing up in upstate Carthage, New York. As a youngster, Blunden would go to the Carthage Volunteer Fire Department with his dad, the chief of the department. Blunden got to play around the old fire trucks and hear all the fire stories presented by the volunteers. Blunden joined the department in 1982 and for the past 34-years he has served Carthage as a member and chief of the department. He is now retired from Carthage Fire and is now an exempt member. He has also served as president of the Jefferson County Volunteer Fire Chiefs and Firefighters Association and is a founding member of the Jefferson County Special Tactics and Rescue Team (STAR Team).
Over the years Blunden has been very involved in the SPAAMFAA organization, a group that is dedicated to preserving antique motorized fire apparatus. Blunden is a founding member of the upstate New York Thousand Islands Hose Haulers chapter of SPAAMFAA and served as editor of the “Silver Trumpet,” a quarterly SPAAMFAA newsletter. Blunden is a history buff, and more importantly a vintage fire apparatus restorer. Two Seagrave Suburbanite pumpers, a city service ladder truck and a pumper that served the Carthage Fire Department, and a 1947 American LaFrance series 700 pumper are some of the rigs that Blunden has beautifully restored.
I first learned of Blunden’s restoration projects on Facebook. There is so much information on Facebook, including people with the interest, skills, and dedication to see vintage fire apparatus brought back to life for others to enjoy and appreciate.
When SPAAMFAA members gather in Jeffersonville, Indiana, July 17 to 20, one of the rigs that will take part in the Saturday muster will be Blunden’s 1926 REO Speedwagon hose wagon. This rig has been a two-year restoration project. Blunden purchased the REO in May 2017 from Skip Oakliff in Portland, Connecticut. A 1947 series 700 American LaFrance pumper was on Blunden’s radar when he headed over to Portland, but once there Blunden came across the little REO and realized that it would be a better candidate for restoration and, on completion, much easier to transport on a small trailer to various shows and musters. Hauling a big piece of fire apparatus is not a small change job. The ’47 American LaFrance moved to the back burner and the REO came home.
The REO is a hose wagon only—no pump. While a serial number 130778 is stamped on the truck frame, the full history of the truck is not known. Was the REO a chassis and the hose box built locally by a fire department, or did REO build the entire unit? Blunden has learned that the hose wagon saw service with the West Willington (CT) Fire Department. It would eventually be sold for $50.00 to Barney Bohack of South Meridian, Connecticut. Barney’s Oil Company formed Barney’s Brigade as a parade group. They would appear in parades all over the state with the truck falling apart on cue—a variation of the Keystone Kops. When a truck gets to be 90 years old, it can be difficult to get a complete history, but that is one thing that Blunden continues to research.
Once the REO was back in Carthage, the restoration process was underway. The truck had flat tires. The wood decking