KELSEYVILLE — Restoration work on Kelseyville”s first fire truck is nearing completion after 30 years and lots of delays, according to Kelseyville Fire Protection District (KFPD) engineer Bill H. Merriman.
Merriman is spearheading the antique truck”s restoration at the old firehouse, next door to the current fire station on Kelseyville”s Main Street.
The department hopes to finish work in time for the Kelseyville Pear Festival parade in September, according to a Friday KFPD press release written by volunteer firefighter Jim Marschall.
“It”s a part of the old history that dates back to the beginning of the department,” Merriman said. Work began in March, after interest and contributions were rekindled when Robert Seth “John” Waite, the son of the man who built the engine, died.
The truck was converted from a 1926 GMC school bus the Kelseyville School District donated in 1940 when the fire district needed an engine and had little money, according to the release.
Kelseyville mechanic and craftsman Seth Waite cut the frame and re-welded it, incorporating a six-cylinder Buick engine, a 200-gallon water tank and a power take-off pump.
According to the release, “The engine was used for many years by the fire department. It was eventually either sold, given away or just parked. Those details are unclear.”
Marschall was one of six volunteer firefighters who found the truck at a fruit-drying yard in 1978 and offered to buy it from the Paul Mariani Corporation, which owned the yard.
“It was back in some bushes with some old, broken-down equipment,” Marschall said.
The Paul Mariani Corporation didn”t want to sell the engine, but donated it with the stipulation that a plaque be placed on it saying the company donated it after restoration work was done, according to Marschall.
Work continued as money and storage space allowed, according to the release.
“Over the years it was stored in barns or wherever someone would let us keep it for a while. Nothing happened until Gil Wells passed away, then there was a fund set up and we really got busy on it,” Merriman said. Wells, a volunteer firefighter of 17 years and one of the group that found the truck, died Nov. 27, 2007.
His family asked that contributions be made to the restoration project in his memory.
According to KFPD accountant Betty Cleveland, the Kelseyville Volunteer Firefighters Association donated approximately $2,500 to get the project going, bringing the total invested in the project to more than $4,000.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
