By Steve Huffman
shuffman@salisburypost.com
Salisbury firefighters are hoping to bring one of their longtime cohorts ó a classy lady who joined the department almost 70 years ago ó back to the fold.
Members of the Fire Department are working to raise money for the restoration of a 1941 American LaFrance aerial truck. It was the department’s first such ride, and it served the city admirably until the mid-1980s, when it was sold at auction.
“A man bought it to paint his barn,” said David Morris, battalion chief of training with the Salisbury Fire Department. “It stayed in a barn out in Woodleaf for years and years and years.”
It’s easy to see why someone would think the truck would be just the thing for painting a barn’s upper reaches.
The vehicle stretches 32 feet and includes an 80-foot ladder. There’s an old-timey light and siren mounted in the middle of the truck’s hood, and the faded lettering on its doors reads, “Aerial Co. No. 1.”
There’s even a compartment at the rear of the truck for the storage of a life net, a trampoline-type contraption designed to save people who hurdled ó as a last resort, no doubt ó from burning buildings.
The truck was returned to the city almost two years ago when the department was offered the ride for $1,500. The farmer who’d bought the truck had died, Morris said, and the vehicle was sold back to the city by Dustin Perrell.
“We jumped at the chance when it was offered to us,” Morris said. “We’d like to restore it as a tribute to our deceased and retired firefighters.”
Since the department got the vehicle back, it has been sheltered alongside garbage trucks and other service vehicles at a city garage on North Fulton Street.
Morris said the Fire Department won’t be returning the firetruck to regular use but would like to fix it so it might be driven in parades and for other special events.
Considering its age, the truck isn’t in bad shape. It needs a new coat of red paint and some general sprucing up, but the body isn’t eaten up with rust, and Morris said city mechanics told him they think they can get the V-24 (that’s not a typo) motor running without a lot of trouble.
The vehicle’s odometer shows only 4,200 miles, an accurate reading, more than likely, since firetrucks typically stay close to home, seldom having the fun of engaging in cross-country jaunts.
Under the hood remain stickers slapped on following oil changes that took place in 1963, ’64 and ’66. Firefighters apparently changed the oil and other fluids in their department’s vehicles in those days.
Morris said it’s estimated that restoring the truck will cost $22,000, not an atrocious amount, especially considering the size of the beast.
He said one of the reasons the price is so cheap is that much of the work will be done by inmates at Piedmont Correctional Facility.
No city funds were used for the truck’s purchase and none will be used for the restoration. There’s a six-member firetruck restoration committee made up of firefighters who are overseeing the work and fundraising for it.
Terry Smith, Salisbury’s fire marshal, is one of those committee members. He pointed out some unique things about the old American LaFrance.
There is no roof over the driver’s seat or cab, meaning that whenever the truck rolled onto the streets, firefighters were exposed to the elements, regardless of the weather.
“You had to be tough to be a firefighter back in those days,” Smith said. “Can you imagine answering a call when it was 15 degrees and snowing?”
Those who at least managed a seat were the lucky ones. Firefighters not fortunate enough to find a place in the cab stood on running boards that lined the truck’s body and held on for all they were worth during the ride.
It had to be interesting to see the truck round a corner as it beat a hasty path to a fire.
Smith noted the American LaFrance has a straight-drive transmission, with a stick shift in the floor. It was constructed in an era that preceded such frivolities as power steering or power brakes.
Getting the behemoth to a call must have been a chore.
Smith said the truck’s restoration is expected to take two years.
“With a little luck and a little hard work, hopefully, in a couple of years, we’ll be back in service,” he said.
They’ll soon be taking a major step in funding the truck’s restoration.
Firefighters will be staging a 5-kilometer race on March 14, with proceeds going to the project. The race begins and ends at Hurley Family YMCA on Jake Alexander Boulevard.
Members of the Salisbury-Rowan Runners Club are volunteering their services and numerous local businesses ó Lyerly Funeral Home, Chapman Custom Signs, Thread Shed Clothing, Growing Pains Consignment, W.A. Brown & Son, Food Lion and The Athlete’s Foot ó are throwing their support to the race.
Firefighters will also collect canned goods on the day of the race for Rowan Helping Ministries.
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The cost of participating in the March 14 race is $20. Pick up a brochure at Salisbury Fire Station No. 1, 514 E. Innes St.
Online registration is available at www.active. com.
Brochures and more information can be found by doing a Google search on “Salisbury Rowan Runners Club.”