blog

Estes Park News interviews Doug

Sat, 21 Jul 2012 14:20:29 +0100

Anticipating the open house today, the Estes Park News stopped by to interview Doug. That story starts at 1:08.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faXZHPc54lA&feature=youtu.be

Great job Gary and Kris!

Triple club visit

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 04:51:58 +0100

In one day, in the same group we welcomed 3 car clubs to the Museum on Saturday June 16th during our regular open house. From Wyoming, Brighton and Fort Collins, we were pleased to provide a stop, restroom facility, and tour of the Museum for about 50-60 guests (and their beautiful automobiles from the teens to the 70's).

Director Klink led the tour, and related some of his better stories about how he fell into this adventure- of fire trucks and restoration.

We wrapped up their 90 minute visit by starting up the Sandusky Ahrens Fox. A deep rumble of pistons and blow of the siren called the tour to a close.

Demonstrating how fast the tillerman could jump free and set up the back end to raise the aerial. The windshield swings away to the side, the seat lifts and flips over the side of the ladder and the steering column pulls straight up and out of the way.

The Beverly Hills front bumper is a great podium to spread Fire Engine stories, and explain how the Museum came to be.

The timbers have arrived

Sat, 09 Jun 2012 15:37:21 +0100

Butch is carefully guiding the balanced beam as Doug shuffles it into the building with the forks. Careful to watch your toes Butch!

The other day Doug called and asked if Trevor and I could stop by and help move some ladders with he and Butch. We stopped by and found a pile of goodies that Doug had collected during a whirlwind trading tour that resulted with a new pile of wood for an upcoming project.

The pile consisted of ground ladders and 2 timbers that will be used to re-construct the main aerial ladder of the Sacramento tiller truck.

You don't see one piece of wood this size, anywhere, ever any more. Doug has a knack for finding just what we need, just when we need it. It's who you know!

...the beams will live here, next to the Wassau truck until we begin refining them for their new role in Sacramento, CA on the tiller ladder truck.

A new tillerman

Wed, 30 May 2012 04:13:20 +0100

Raising the flag before the tours began. Attached to the basket of the snorkel, the huge American flag makes a great impression.

Getting cleaned up for this months public tour day, I received a call from a lady that reported to me a large bird (eagle?) that had gotten it's leg caught in the light fixture at the football field, 50' in the air. She knew who to call! Not to brag, but at the Reliance Fire Museum, we do have the longest ladder in town, and we're quick. In fact, after chatting with the transportation director for the school district (also a volunteer firefighter) we hopped in the Beverly Hills tiller and headed for the High School field.

Enroute we got the call that the Osprey had freed itself after being stuck for 30 minutes, and we were no longer needed. Being close, we stopped by and ended up picking up Lt Kearney, who had never driven the back end of the tiller truck before.

Like all of us, he was glad to hop on and learn as he went. Thanks to the headset intercom with the driver, Doug could coach him on how to maneuver the back end while traveling. They made it all the way back to the museum without incident, and I hear that Justin's smile lasted for hours after they put the truck away.

Just about to make the turn onto Hwy 36 from Northbound Hwy 7, Justin either looks very confident or slightly nervous, it's hard to tell.

Way to go Justin! Every fireman's dream, I think, is to 'tiller'. If you're in the right place at the right time, you, too may have the chance to drive the big truck...

At the end of the event, putting the flag away takes a few people. Here, Ethan Igel, Gary Shanafelt, Kent and Judi Smith help fold the flag correctly after the basket has been lowered.

Open houses are an excuse to play

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:45:58 +0100

There is a large crank on both sides of the truck to raise the water tower, hand powered!

Last month, in preparation for the open house- we pulled the water tower onto the apron in front of the garage doors and set the tower up.... Actually, Trevor and Andrew set the tower up, by hand, with elbow grease. In the old days, the firefighters were real men! Cranking the tower up at the scene of a fire was probably pretty quick, fueled by adrenaline at the curb of a hot building fire- but today, we had time to reflect on the good old days, and how far fire equipment has evolved.

It's always cool to unfurl the 50' flag and suspend it from the snorkel- so we did that, too. The nice weather was teasing us into pulling out all the stops for the March open house.

We'll have another open house this weekend- on the 21st of April from 10-12... See you there!

After the open house, as a little reward, we set out to work the engines a little bit with a drive through Estes Park, our own mini-parade.

A very small, Big new project

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 13:03:04 +0100

Waiting patiently at the Estes Park fire station for some TLC, Opal had a few flat tires for starters.

'Opal' arrived
at the Museum last week.

This little truck started out in the Nebraska plains, and ended up in the hands of the Estes Park volunteers who used her to appeal to kids and families at public events for several years. After sitting for some time and not being used after a couple of mechanical challenges, the Volunteers donated the truck to the Museum with hopes that she could be revived.

Our goal is to bring life back into this little truck for Museum public events, beginning with the Rooftop Rodeo Parade in July. Keep an eye on the blog for progress, or stop by during our monthly public tour to see how things are progressing.

Doug wheels the little truck to the van for the ride to the Museum.

Not many new arrivals are unloaded by hand. This should make the restoration a little easier! Doug and Mark will work together to bring the life back into Opal.

It's a small world

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 04:56:53 +0100

The first part of the clipping sent to us that features our '32 LaFrance (on the left)

It used to be a pleasant surprise every time a stranger would walk into the shop, or drop by a car show or fire muster and say: "I remember when I worked on that truck", or "pumped that truck" or "my father/brother/uncle worked at the station that truck was at"..... It happens so much any more that it's not a surprise when you see him coming- with a sparkle in his eye as he fancies the glimmer of the bumper or looks a truck over from front to back and has a story on the tip of his tongue...

That's just what happened last summer when a man came along and confessed that he had pumped our '28 LaFrance at her last major fire back in the 60's... and better yet, he said he knew of film footage of his father training with the very same truck in the 40's ( ! ). Wow !

Of course, Doug took this man for a ride on the truck and listened to the stories he told.

It was another pleasant surprise when the same man mailed an article to us recently with a picture of the truck and a story about it being sold by the department. It was a real bonus when he shared a link to the video of our truck (among others) being used for training by the Lawrence (KS) fire department. (LINK TO VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtunAsWnae4 - see our truck at the 24 minute mark)

So, although it's not as surprising anymore to hear someone that knows a truck personally- it is always a pleasure to actually hear the first hand (or second hand) account of the old days.

Keep those stories coming! We love to hear 'em.

The second part of the clipping (the 3rd section was lost) that describes the trucks being sold, and their last assignments.

Merry Christmas

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 05:04:45 +0100

We love fire engines and red paint, and all the friends we've made along the way.

... but as we slow down for a few days to spend time with family and recognize the meaning of Christmas, we are thankful for all we have.

Merry Christmas to our friends!

Santa and the Fire Truck

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 04:29:10 +0100

Actually, from our perspective, it's the Fire Truck and Santa- but most people would give Santa more attention than just an old 100' tiller truck from Beverly Hills- you know.

For several years, I have been at the theater welcoming Santa to throngs of little kids for the annual Christmas movie with Santa at Reel Mountain Theater in Estes Park. Since our family sold the theater last year, I finally got to help deliver Santa to the theater. Now I understand why Doug likes this assignment, delivering Santa to the theater. Fire truck owners take note:

If you add one Santa Claus to the top of the fire truck (probably any fire truck will do), you can apparently drive really slow, blow the siren really loud, ring the bell as much as you want and create a parade along whatever route you desire. No kidding! Just make sure Santa waves and smiles to every passing car- I was impressed by how many honks and waves this friendly mini-parade earned just traveling a mile into town on Hwy 34 from Santa's sleigh parking spot.

Driving Westbound on Highway 34 as we begin the descent into Estes Park. You can't hear the bell and siren, but rest assured that they're both clearing a path for Santa.

While the little kids stood in line for Santa, these smart Cub Scouts took a few minutes to become familiar with the controls for the 12 cylinder workhorse under the hood of the Beverly Hills tiller.

I enjoyed my view from the tiller seat, and was able to get a couple of pictures in while we were on the straight-away, just before we arrived to over a hundred kids and their parents in line to visit with Santa before seeing a movie.

That wasn't enough for Doug, who after chatting with the families at the theater, in his warm turnout coat with his sparkling Diet Coke from the theater soda fountain- suggested that we take the truck around the Lake to 'work the engine a little bit'.

Raised to about 3/4 height and a 60 degree angle between tractor and trailer, the truck is ready to work. We always enjoy operating the trucks when the conditions are right. Today's conditions: sunny, no wind, open parking all over town.

I was game (remember the tillerman makes very few decisions about where to go) and followed Doug's lead obediently. After a few miles of subzero wind chill, we stopped at the fairgrounds to raise the ladder and take full advantage of the beautiful sunny day- without even a breeze (when parked).

It was a good day for the museum: Santa, raising the tiller and a free bag of popcorn!

Public Tours to resume in February 2012

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:17:12 +0100

Saturday was fun for us! Although we dropped attendance from last months 100 visitors, we enjoyed having time to talk with everyone that braved the snowy roads to peek inside the Museum during our November public tour.

We'll get back to our regular tour schedule in February on the third Saturday, and probably expand those hours for the summer.

In the meantime, we'll be at the museum watching old Emergency re-runs on VHS...

Ha! We're working full steam ahead with restorations and plans to make 2012 a turning point for the Museum as we increase our public outreach even further. Watch for news and a series on restoring 'Opal', a special truck that was just donated to the Museum, that's like nothing we've ever taken on- it's a surprise we'll reveal in the new year.

As always, we welcome private requests for tours as our schedule permits for groups or individuals- just contact us to set that up. (Contact page tab above)

Happy Thanksgiving from everyone at Reliance.