Old Fire Engine Sparks Enthusiasm

As a collector of antique motorcycles, Fire Capt. Tim Graber, 46, knows the value of vintage vehicles.

So when he learned from one of his colleagues that the city’s first motorized firefighting vehicle, which went into service in July 1921, was rusting away in the city storage yard, his interest ignited.

Determined to restore it to its original glory, he led a team of firefighters and community volunteers who dusted off the “Grand Old Lady,” as Graber dubbed it, and towed it Wednesday to its new home at Fire Station No. 5 on Walnut street.

“It’s in better condition than we thought,” said Graber, a 20-year firefighter who recently formed the Santa Ana Fire Department Historical Preservation Committee.

Still, compared with how it looked in an old photograph that hangs on the station wall, the 1921 vehicle has quite a way to go.

The engine was purchased from a manufacturer in Columbus, Ohio, in February 1921 by the Irvine Co., which at that time was a family ranching operation, and given to the city. It was delivered in July that year, according to a city purchase order.

For decades after the historical fire engine was decommissioned, it was used for irrigation in an orange grove in the Angeles National Forest.

During the Santa Ana Fire Department’s centennial in 1983, the grove owner contacted the department to let officials know about his acquisition, Graber said. The city traded another fire engine for the antique.

“There wasn’t as much enthusiasm about restoring it back then as there is now,” said Jim Dalton, Fire Department battalion chief.

It has been in storage ever since, and its original nickel-plated rims are now dull, its body in need of repainting and its interior in tatters. Graber said he would like to find replacements for all original equipment, which over the years has disappeared.

The effort will be worthwhile, he said, because the truck will be “a point of pride we will be able to take to the community. . . . It will be an outward symbol for what firefighters do for a living.”

Another motivation is that “it’s fulfilling to contribute to the history of this community,” said Larry Key, manager of Ben Warner’s Garage, a 50-year-old towing company that helped move the firetruck Wednesday. “This is something we can all take pride in.”

Dalton and Graber are seeking donations and recruiting volunteers to help the firefighters and civilians who have already signed on for the project, expected to cost $50,000. They say they hope to complete the job within a year.

“Hopefully, we can have it for the Huntington Beach Fourth of July Parade next year,” Graber said. “It would have been nice to have it ready for its 75th anniversary, though.”