CHIPPEWA FALLS — A 1954 hearth truck that was Utilized by the Chippewa Falls Fire Division till it was purchased in 1987 is returning to The metropolis, and when The general public will get An alternative to see it, the basic car will look shiny new.
The hearth truck has been resaved and Shall be on current On The mannequin new Chippewa Space Historic previous Center That is beneath enchancment aprolongedside Bridgewater Avenue. The constructing is slated to open subsequent spring or early summer time.
Jack Working, Township Fire Division chief, is Inside the group of area hearthfighters who acquired the growing older truck in 2010 and spent the previous decade restoring it.
“We found it sitting in a area in Durand,” Working said.
The non-revenue group, a chapter of the Society for the Preservation & Appreciation of Antique Motor Fire Gear in America (SPAAMFAA), purchased the machine for $1,500 And commenced The tactic of restoring it. The truck has been saved in Pretty A pair Of numerous places Prior to now decade As a Outcome of the group has labored on repairing it to its unique luster.
“It’s been a sluggish course of,” Working said. “The Most very important drawback is, the place Can we put it? We didn’t Want to fairly it up, and Have not Anythe place To place it.”
The truck was constructed by 4 Wheel Drive Auto Agency, based mostly in Clintonville. It has a Darley pump, Inbuilt Chippewa Falls. And the engine, which is an unique unit, was Inbuilt Waukesha.
Retired Chippewa Falls Fire Chief Tom Larson joined the department in 1974, so he drove the truck numerous occasions till the truck was traded in for A mannequin new machine in 1987.
“Again Inside the 50s, it was broadspread to have an open cab — this doesn’t have a roof on it,” Larson said. “It was chilly to drive Inside the winter.”
The truck is 24 ft prolonged, 8 ft tall, And eight ft broad.
“We traded it into Darley, They typically purchased it. It had A pair Of numerous house proprietors. We didn’t assume a lot of it As quickly as we traded it in.”
Like Working, Larson was Looking for An best place To place the truck. He pitched The thought to the Chippewa County Historic Society, which is constructing The mannequin new $3.5 million museum On The doorway to Irvine Park.
“I said, ‘Wouldn’t It is cool to have An exact Chippewa Falls hearth truck Inside The middle of the room?’ It Might be a current stopper,” Larson said.
The truck is presently at Legacy Painting & Sidebfinaling in Galesville, the place It is getting a mannequin new paint job. Larson said he expects They will get the truck back in December, And they’ll immediately place it infacet the museum That is nonetheless beneath enchancment. As quickly as It is infacet, they plan To maintain Engaged on the ending touches.
“We’ll spend the winter placing the lights and chrome bumpers back on,” Larson said.
Larson said the SPAAMFAA group obtained a 100-Website booklet with unimaginable particulars Of every factor of the truck. As quickly as they purchased the truck, it was worn out and rusted, However the gadgets have been there.
“We cleaned it up, power washed it, started taking parts off of it,” Larson said. “It didn’t lack for parts; we simply Desired to wash it up.We thought it Can be carried out in a yr.”
Whereas the work wound up taking For a lot prolongeder, Larson said it has been nice To revive the truck to its unique situation.
“It is the identical engine. The hardest factor to get was an oil filter,” Larson said. “We resaved the engine. It’s a useful truck. It drives. It doesn’t pump water anymore.”
The chrome lights and the siren additionally nonetheless work.
Working acknowledges it took For a lot prolongeder than he anticipated To revive it.
“We have been researching it, Wanting for parts,” Working said. “It’s A very Very prolonged time Inside the making.”
Working said it was important work to protect the history of the hearth department.
“Where Is that this history going to go?” he said. “If it’s not shared, It Goes to be forgotten.”
Working Is joyful to have The general public see it once the museum doorways open.
I’m anxious to see it on current, the place people can see it And luxuriate in it,” Working said. “It Is An factor of the history of the Chippewa Valley.”
As the museum strikes reveals over time, Larson is hopeful the truck can maintain in place. If the museum decides it ought to Not be on current, Larson said It is going to Return to the membership, which Continues to be the proprietor of the machine.
Construction on the $3.5 million, two-diploma Chippewa Space Historic previous Center started in August 2020. It is roughly a 19,000-sq. foot constructing.
In 2015, the Chippewa County Historic Society purchased The earlier Dairy Queen restaurant at 12 Bridgewater Ave., which was final Utilized by Piff’s Pizza. The state of affairs, adjoining to The doorway to Irvine Park and throughout from the Bernard F. Willi Municipal Pool, was confacetred An best, central location for the constructing, said Historic Society Prefacetnt Dave Gordon, who has been Engaged on the enterprise for Greater than a decade. The empty restaurant was razed in April 2016.
After buying for the lot, the group launched its capital advertising campaign. The group believes with its proximity to the park and to Leinenkugel Brewing Agency, It Goes to be a tourism draw to the north facet of The metropolis.
The constructing was designed by Chippewa Falls-based mostly CBS Squared architect firm. It is designed to look Similar to the previous Chippewa Lumber & Progress Agency mill. That constructing boasted it had The Most very important noticed mill beneath one roof On the earth, with As a lot as 175 noticeds Which Might Even be running at a time. However, the mill closed in 1910.
The Chippewa County Historic Society has been operating out of a constructing at 123 Allen St. on The metropolis’s East Hill for almost 30 yrs. It has typically solely been open on Tuesdays. However, that location hasn’t suited their wants, and it lacks wheelchair and handicap accessibility.
The new museum additionally Would be The house of the Chippewa County Genealogical Society.
