Firefighting history on display at muster
KINGSTON, N.Y. >> In 1947, about a dozen locals in Olive got together, bought a fire truck and formed the first Olive volunteer fire department, said Shokan resident Ralph Vankleeck, who proudly displayed the restored fire truck on Saturday at the annual Antique Fire Engine Muster.
The event was sponsored by the Volunteer Fireman’s Hall and Museum on Fair Street.
The muster, lining two blocks of Fair Street, featured restored fire engines and antique firefighting equipment for the public to see. Crowds of children and adults sat in, rang the bells of and generally enjoyed viewing vehicles that spanned the past century of firefighting.
For example, the Olive fire engine, said Vankleeck, sat in a barn for decades after its engine blew in 1952. “About 1998, we [the Olive volunteer firefighters] dragged it out and started restoring it,” he said.
Vankleeck has been a volunteer firefighter in Olive for 30 years. His daughter, 17-year-old Annie, an “honorary firefighter,” worked tirelessly fundraising for the department, said her dad.
“This is our 16th fire engine muster and open house,” said Bill Knowles, president of the Volunteer Fireman’s Hall and Museum. He added that they love to give back to the community.
“We’re happy that it’s so popular with the children,” he said, “that they get the feeling of what being a firefighter is.”
Knowles pointed out the 1845 hand pump inside the museum, a big device on wheels that took about 18 people to man. “In Kingston,” Knowles said, “they pumped water from cisterns that were dug around the city. The cisterns were big holes filled with water.”
Also on display was a 1908 “hose cart,” also known as a “hose reel.” it was restored and displayed by George Long from the Big Indian Fire Department. It was a huge metal spool with a fire hose wrapped around it, held up on each side with big-spoked metal wheels. In those days, firefighters would pull the hose with ropes to the scene of a fire, where it would be hooked up to a hand-operated water pump.
Martha Bear Dallis, of Kingston, brought her whole family. “We’ve gotten to only five fire trucks so far,” she said, snapping a picture of her granddaughter, Emmaline, sitting with other family members in the cab of a restored truck. “She’s having so much fun. And everyone’s so friendly and informative.”
Many owners of the trucks displayed are members of a national antique fire engine club called the Society for Preservation and Appreciation of Antique Motor Fire Apparatus of America, or SPAAMFAA, said Luke Paynter, the society’s national safety officer.
The event, an important fundraiser for the Fireman’s Museum, also featured a raffle for a child’s Patrol Fire Truck and tables of baskets for silent auction. Also on hand was a lovely ballerina handing out balloons to youngsters.
A “bucket brigade” demonstration — firefighting before fire engines, with teams of people putting out a fire using only buckets of water — was scheduled for Saturday afternoon.
“We love firetrucks,” said Gail DeCicco, of Kingston, who was attending along with her husband, Larry, and granddaughter, Melody Sky Avery. “We always go to the museum – we bring all the kids here!”