Editor’s Note: I was cruising along the 101 Freeway in downtown L.A. on my way to Hollywood and I noticed this large, white truck with trailer that looked like the kind they use to transport antique and show cars.
This description was prepared by Dave Hubert:
Our sponsor is the California State Firefighters' Association----And we are known, as the CSFA Steamer Parade Team.
This is our 13th year doing this program for the Fire Service. We average well over 40 events a year, mostly parades and other community charity events throughout the State of California. With our Team Mascot "Blaze'' the Fire Dog (see attached photos) we have completed 10 Tournament of Roses Parades, the Bishop Mule-Days parade, San Juan Swallows Day parade and many other community events and safety fairs.
Our team is made up of retired Firefighters. Together with our wives, we travel in our motor-homes to do these events in the interest of Fire Safety. (Blaze performs fire prevention tricks for children, like Stop, Drop & Roll, etc). It seems every event something new and exciting happens. Meeting new folks and seeing many new sights it is truly been fun, interesting and rewarding for us all.
We show our audiences an exciting & colorful part of America's History: a fully restored (and functional) Horse Drawn, 1902 Steam Fire Engine. Gleaming brass, bright red paint with rich Gold Leafing and shinny chrome fittings. Weighing in at a whopping 10,700 pounds and (still) able to pump a 1000 gallons of water a minute, on five pounds of coal, the ''American" (Brand Name) is a true piece of our Nation's Fire Service heritage.
One of eight left in the Nation, the "American" is a true example of our Great-Grand Father's ability to engineer and develop such a fine piece of workable 'art' that is also designed to protect our communities from Fire.... Our" American" served the City of Reno for over 20 years and then served the Southern Pacific Railroad on a firefighting train along the right-of-way of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, protecting the Railroads wooden snow sheds from fire.
We found it rusting away in a barn in Fallbrook, California in 1991. My wife bought it for me, on our 25th wedding anniversary. It took our family over five years to restore it back to it's original glory. And Glory it is!---- to see the "American" with its horses hooked up and running down the street is a sight to behold. Pulled by the traditional white fire horse team--- "The Morgan Percheron" ---many parade spectators applause and cheer as if we were all back in the 1900's again...
How lucky our family is to be able to present this true classic of early America Industrial Art and Fire Service History to the people of California....
For more information, please visit their website at http://www.csfa.net/web/2006/09/antique_steamer.aspx
{module Steamer}
