Pumping life back into old firetruck

Once restored, the department will use the truck to fight fires once again.
By SHERRI L. SHAULIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
LORDSTOWN -- It's been 26 years since the old girl had any real use, but now she's well on her way to becoming a real showpiece.
A 1946 International pumper firetruck sits in the back of the garage at the Lordstown Fire Department, where firefighters and other volunteers routinely work on getting it cleaned up and ready for service fighting fires again.
"It's been sitting in mothballs for some time," admits fire Chief James Wishart. "But when we turn the key, it starts now."
Truck's history
The truck, which first arrived in August 1947, was purchased by legislators of what was then Lordstown Township. Firefighters got their first training sessions with the truck in October of that same year, explained Bob Hoffman.
Hoffman, a former firefighter with the department, has spent time not only on restoring the truck, but researching its history.
Hoffman is familiar with the truck, even though he admits he wasn't even walking when it first arrived in Lordstown.
"My dad was a 40-year member of the fire department, and from the time I was a kid, I was hanging around at the station," he said. "Then when I graduated high school, I just joined up."
The truck was first used to fight fires throughout the township that eventually became the village of Lordstown, Hoffman said, but it was retired from the department in 1978 and used primarily in regional parades for a few years after that.
"When it quit running, she was just kind of mothballed," he said.
In storage
After that, the truck was stored for almost 15 years at the former Gordon James Career Center near the Lordstown High School. When the Trumbull Career and Technical Center assumed control of that building a few years ago, Hoffman said members of the fire department decided to be good neighbors and move it out.
But there was no easy place to store the truck, he added.
"We've kept it in the garages of a couple of different firefighters' homes," he said, adding that he and others often talked about restoring the truck someday.
But last year, former Mayor Arno Hill showed Hoffman where the village could afford to fund at least some of the restoration.
Helping out
But even with the money for the project, the restoration has been slow going at times, especially since finding parts for a 1946 firetruck are not always easy to come by.
"A lot of the guys at Ward's Automotive really deserve an 'atta boy' for the help they've given us," Hoffman said. "When we went to them looking for some of the parts we needed, they could have thumbed through a catalog and told us none were available and we were out of luck.
"But they have called around the country for us, trying to track down the things we need," he added.
In recent weeks, workers have replaced the brakes and the engine manifold, and should soon be putting on a new fender and other cosmetic touches, Hoffman said.
Last week, they even attempted to see if the pumper portion of the truck works.
"We turned it on and it sputtered some," Hoffman said. "Technically speaking, it works."
slshaulis@vindy.com