SAN CLEMENTE : First Fire Engine May Vanish, Too

City firefighters had seen it only in faded black-and-white photos, a 1928 American La France fire engine that was the first major purchase made by the volunteer department shortly after the city’s incorporation.

Then last year, in a gleaming red-and-chrome flash, this ghost from the city’s past became a reality when a Thousand Oaks collector unexpectedly stepped forward to offer the antique fire engine--in pristine shape--back to the Fire Department.

Now, city firefighters who paid $8,000 out of their own pockets to buy the truck may see the vintage fire engine disappear along with the San Celemente Fire Department itself.

Last week, the city decided to have the county take over fire services, effectively disbanding both the city Fire Department and the San Clemente Firemen’s Assn.

Although the firefighters will be rehired by the county, their employee group, which owns the historic engine, will be history beginning in September.

“This is tough. But we have no choice but to sell it because they’re breaking us up,” said Firefighter Kurt Bidinger, the unofficial Fire Department historian. “We’d love to sell it to someone who lives in San Clemente, but the bottom line is that we have to sell it.”

The dismantling of the Fire Department--done for economic reasons--and the possible loss of the city’s original fire engine has dismayed current and former residents including 78-year-old Merton Hackett, the city’s first paid fire chief.

“Why don’t they just un-incorporate and have the county take over everything?” said Hackett, who now lives in Hutto, Tex. “This isn’t good for the city.”

For the city’s first 20 years, the 1928 engine served as the city’s only firetruck. As San Clemente grew, more fire engines were purchased, and the old war horse was sold for $500 in the early 1960s.

“Before we bought the American La France, the city used a cart with about 200 or 300 feet of hose that we hooked to the hydrants,” Hackett said. “Sometimes the (water) pressure was sufficient, sometimes it wasn’t.”

“The American La France was just about as good as anything that was available at that time,” Hackett said. “Sometimes the hand-crank siren wouldn’t get started until we got to the fire, but the American La France always did the job.”

The truck was sold to a land developer to decorate a park, then eventually wound up in a Los Angeles junkyard, where Thousand Oaks collector Robert Schmidt found it.

He painstakingly restored the old engine, even locating lost original equipment, like the vehicle’s headlamps.

Bidinger said Schmidt offered the truck back to the city “because he said he was getting on in years and wanted us to have it.”

Almost to a man, the fireman’s union jumped at the chance to reclaim part of the city’s heritage.

“It’s our first truck, and not many fire departments can say they still have their first one,” Bidinger said. “It says a lot about the hometown attitude and heritage of San Clemente, and we were happy to purchase it out of our own pockets. It’ll be sad to see it go.”

Hackett happened to be in San Clemente last year when the truck was unveiled to the public for the first time in about 30 years.

“It got kind of melancholy when I got behind the high seat where I drove that truck for many years,” Hackett said. “The American La France looks exactly like it did back then. It certainly brought back a lot of memories.”