Brian Hubert
Daily Freeman, Kingston, N.Y.
(MCT)
Aug. 20—KINGSTON, N.Y. — Visitors to the Volunteer Firemen’s Hall and Museum of Kingston’s 18th annual Antique Fire Engine Muster on Saturday looked on in awe at more than a dozen vintage fire engines parked on Fair Street.
Some came, many with children in tow, to check out the classic trucks. Others just happened to come upon the event, with some even inquiring about what was going on as they walked past the vintage rigs.
Kyle Mather was walking to the Kingston Farmer’s Market with his daughter June when they saw the lineup of firetrucks and decided to walk through. “She likes fire engines,” Mather said.
Mark Berthiaume, the museum’s vice president, said he expected anywhere up to 3,000 people to attend by the time the event was slated to wrap up at 4 p.m.
Among those who brought vintage firetrucks was Terry Davis Jr. He brought three of the trucks on display. They included a 1984 Mack CF 600 with a 100-foot ladder that was used to unfurl a large American flag over the street.
Davis, a volunteer firefighter, comes from a family of firefighters, including his father and stepfather. This helped to foster a love of vintage firetrucks. His collection includes an older model 1971 CF 600 that originally served a department in Collingdale, Pa., and a 1969 Seagrave.
Davis’ stepfather, Terry Davis, was also on hand. He said he recalled when the museum of Fair Street served as a Kingston Fire Department fire station until the Frog Alley station was built in the 1970s.
Dan Halpert, a firefighter in Ticonderoga, made the longest trip with a 1969 1250 CF built by the now-defunct manufacturer Oren and that was first owned by the Carmel Fire Department in Putnam County. The vehicle later served multiple less busy departments in the Adirondacks until the pump broke, making it destined for the scrap heap.
“I phoned the fire chief and he told me if I could come up with the scrap value it was mine,” he said.
Halpert had it painted in a high-visibility green that gained some popularity with some departments for a time in the 1970s but later fell out of favor as they returned to the traditional red.
Jeff Tremberger, of Pine Bush, brought a 1957 Ward LaFrance pumper. He said it holds a very special place in his heart as he remembers riding on it when it served the Pine Bush Fire Department in Orange County.
“It never broke down, it’s still going,” he said.
He added that it’s a far cry from today’s trucks, which are heavily computerized,
Just as he spoke, a 1985 American LaFrance hook and ladder truck arrived. Erich Lachmann of the Fairchester Hose Haulers of the Society for the Preservation and Appreciation of Antique Motor Fire Apparatus in America sat in the tiller’s position helping to steer at the back while Luke Paynter, a former professional firefighter at the Middletown Fire Department, drove it up from Middletown.
Lachmann said the vehicle served the Hastings-on-Hudson Fire Department’s Ladder 22 in Westchester County for about 20 years before it was sold to the city of Norwalk, Conn. He said his role as the tiller is to help the truck make tight corners and go into allies. “It can go pretty much anywhere the front can go,” he said.
After the truck was retired by Norwalk, it was donated to the club. “It was in very astounding shape, so they didn’t want it to get destroyed,” Paynter said.
These days, the Fairchester Hose Haulers just use the trucks for parades and other public events.
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