By Bill Adams
When I joined in the early 1960s, the fire company was adamant about keeping politics and religion out of the firehouse. Don’t get your bunkers in a twist – we were not anti-religious or anti-government. Back then, what was called Firemen’s Sunday was voluntarily observed each year. To be fair to all parties, we rotated the places of worship where the company attended the service. Non-believers never had a problem. Nobody had an agenda. Another unwritten practice was not promoting political philosophies or passing out political flyers in the station. However, there was no limit to good-natured teasing and “breaking chops.” It seemed to work.
Today, firehouse discussions can become contentious because statements can be purposely or mistakenly interpreted literally or figuratively. Literally speaking, saying “we’re all in the same boat” means everyone is physically in one vessel. Figuratively speaking, it means “we’re all facing the same thing.” What’s this have to do with ugly fire trucks? Nothing directly. I’m trying to draw an analogy when the Raisin Squad at morning coffee takes words out of context. The Cambridge Dictionary says: “If words are used out of context, only a small separate part of what was originally said or written is reported, with the result that their meaning is not clear or is not understood.”
It is possible some raisins might take words out of context or purposely interpret words literally or figuratively to meet a personal agenda. That’s not right. I know some white hairs tease the young guys which the squad believes is appropriate and legal. But one raisin teasing another is uncalled for. So much for camaraderie.
Out of Context
A February column about ugly fire trucks got the geezers all fired up. I thought they were busting my chops. A couple mornings ago, I bring in a photo which to me looked like another ugly rig. They started in again. “Where’d that come from?” It was in an email somebody out west sent to Harvey Eckart (a fellow raisin from Pennsylvania). “What the hell are you doing taking a picture out of someone else’s mail? That ain’t right.” Well, Harvey sent it to me. “It still ain’t right.” Don’t worry about it, I said; just read the damn email. This rig has an interesting story. “Good grief. Not only you stole the photo, you actually read his mail.”
Literary Correctness
Getting back to reality, I wanted to use the photo in the column, but couldn’t credit Harvey because he didn’t actually take it. And I wanted to use the story of the rig, but had to get permission from the writer to quote it. Then, the fellow that wrote the e-mail said he didn’t take the picture himself. He put me in touch with the person that did. I tried explaining all this to the squad but they weren’t buying it. “If they wanted the story and picture published, they would’ve done it themselves. You know, you really shouldn’t call a rig ugly if someone owns it. They must have liked it or they wouldn’t have bought it.”
Then one white hair says, “You should always say whether it is figuratively ugly or literally ugly.” My parents said never to hit a fool, but in this case, there could be an exception. I thought better because I just got over carpal tunnel surgery and was afraid that I’d hurt my good hand on his dentures.
The Fire Truck
The guilty (just kidding!) email author is Mike McDonald, who said: “I’m a collector-restorer of vintage fire apparatus as a hobby. I’m a California general engineer, a CDF-USFS wildland fire suppression contractor, and also a director at the California Fire Museum, the Crown Fire Coach Enthusiasts, and the California Chapter of SPAMFAA.”
With his permission, his verbatim e-mail to Harvey Eckart follows: “This rig had kind of a unique background in that it started out being a Fresno city ‘shop built’ two-axle-long wheelbase, city service truck primarily carrying ladders to large commercial fires with a 935 Hall-Scott engine. The chassis was purchased new from Connell Motor Truck, Peterbilt’s first dealer.
“In the mid-1990s, Fresno spent more than $90,000 converting it into the water tender you see here with a new Crate 8V-92, Allison A/T, new dual drive rear end-suspension, and a new tank-pump with an auxiliary diesel motor. It was painted lime green and assigned to its airport station near Clovis. By the early 2000s, Hewy Wick and I had purchased several other ‘surveyed’ Fresno rigs. Because of its age and limited use, I thought for sure it would be coming up on a list for sale, but it never did. For several years I would ask about it with no reply. Then one day they sent me a list of rigs that was in their relatively unsecure holding yard near downtown Fresno where wrecked police cars, ambulances, and other non-running out-of-service fire trucks were stored. I drove up to see them and this 1956 Peterbilt was sitting there in the far corner of the yard with all the windows broken out and graffitied. I immediately called their purchasing agent and asked about it. He said that they couldn’t sell it because they can’t find the title. I told him that I didn’t need a title and asked him if they would sell it for salvage-scrap because of its condition. A few hours later he called back and said that in its current condition they would as long as we bought the several other ‘surveyed’ vehicles that Hewy and I bought that week for $500 each, but they would need to get a minimum of $1.00 (plus tax) for the Peterbilt. Fresno only accepts cashier’s checks, no cash or credit cards. Can you imagine the look I got at our bank asking for a cashier’s check for: $1.08!
“Anyway, the rest of the story is after paying for it, I went by their shops in downtown Fresno (the same brick and mortar building where their horse drawn steamers were kept at the turn of the century) to see if they had any records on the Peterbilt? The shop foreman said that he didn’t, but if there were any, they would be in a back room in some old heavy wooden filing cabinets. After a while, I found several large manila folders marked 1956 Peterbilt. By then it was late in the day so I got a hotel room in Fresno and started going through the folders. Low and behold in one of the folders was the (original yellow-not pink) title from 1956. We had it hauled back to Valley Center to replace all the broken glass and missing lights, paint the top and tank white and add (the necessary aluminum wheels) and graphics.”
After multiple back and forth emails with Harvey and Mike, permission was given to use the photos by the professional photographer who took them – Chuck Madderom. He’s taken a lot of fire truck photos.
The consensus of the Raisin Squad is I should not call any fire truck ugly. They said I could call them unique, or interesting, or one-of-a-kind, but definitely not ugly. They might have a point. I didn’t have a clue what one young white hair meant when he said I was not aware and I should be more woke about fire trucks. I said I get woke every time my hearing aid battery chirps when its low and if I don’t get woke, I can’t hear. And if I’m not aware that my bladder is giving me a wake-up call at 3 a.m., the bed can get darn uncomfortable.
BILL ADAMS is a member of the Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment Editorial Advisory Board, a former fire apparatus salesman, and a past chief of the East Rochester (NY) Fire Department. He has 50 years of experience in the volunteer fire service.
