By Ron Heal
When the Peoria (IL) Fire Department retired Captain Dave Wenzel arrived at Fire Central for this Labor Day Parade he was surprised to see that an old friend would lead the Peoria Fire Fighters Local 50 parade entry. An almost fully restored 1931 Ahrens-Fox 1,000-gpm pumper would lead the apparatus in the parade. Dave Wenzel was on the job from 1957 until 1991. He started his fire department career as a hoseman, moved up to be an engineer, and made fire captain in 1965. In his early days as a firefighter Wenzel often worked off the back of this very same rig.
Three years ago, Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment's Web site featured a joint start-up on a “frame off” restoration on this Ahrens-Fox pumper. The Wheels O’ Time Museum and the downstate SPAAMFAA chapter HOIFEC—Heart of Illinois Fire Enthusiasts and Collectors—came together to start restoration on an 80-year-old pumper. The pumper had always been with the Peoria Fire Department, serving at several fire companies over the years. Department records show the pumper as a reserve piece of apparatus in 1958. Wenzel believes the rig was retired in the early 1960s. When you have what is now an 85-year-old fire truck, you know it would have many stories to tell. The two groups that came together to complete the restoration appreciated some of the stories that Wenzel could share.
For three decades the big pumper would be on the scene at many of the city’s major fires. Thanks to the good work Doug Brignall did in compiling “Peoria Firefighters—A Proud History,” we had some information and pictures to aid in the restoration project. What became of the pumper when it left the Peoria Fire Department is not well documented, however recent contact with another firefighter brings up the fact that Robert Johnson, a former Ahrens-Fox salesman living in Peoria back in the 1960s, made the rounds of Peoria fire stations trying to find someone to purchase the rig from him. Nobody seemed to have any interest in the old truck. It was really unloved. Exactly how Mr. Johnson obtained the rig is a story of several twists and turns known now by only a few people. There are others who recall the pumper sitting out in the driveway at Johnson’s home on Forest Hill in Peoria. Mr. Johnson always wanted to see the rig restored. Failing health prevented him from doing a restoration. At some point he came in contact with Gary Bragg and Jack Seamons, two young men who were involved members in a small museum on the far north edge of the Peoria area. Johnson eventually donated the rig to the museum with the understanding that the people out at the museum would one day restore the pumper. Bragg recalls the day the pumper was towed out to the museum. For a period of more than 30 years the truck would be stored in an out building at the museum.
Seamons and Bragg always kept Johnson’s request to have the rig restored in mind, but there was much to do to keep their museum up and running. An early attempt to restore the rig was not successful. Restoring such a big piece of fire apparatus would need a proper space to do the work, more manpower, and much needed cash. One day about 10 years ago, Bragg opened up the back shed where the pumper rested to a group of “fire buffs” known as HOIFEC. There in that shed, known as “Death Valley” sat the Ah