Illinois Fire Department might scrap piece of firefighting history

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Thanks for the heads up to JVV. I wish I had the money for it, and I know it will find a good home.

There's a story that former Chicago Fire Commissioner Robert Quinn invented the snorkel fire truck in 1958 by running a hose up a cherry picker truck and pumping water down onto a fire.

While the first snorkels were converted vehicles, GMC produced the first original snorkel fire truck in 1959 for the Chicago Fire Department.

http://desplainesvalleynews.com/bedford-park-might-scrap-piece-of-firefighting-history-p1244-90.htm

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There has to be some museum that want's it. Anything but the scrap heap.

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It already went to the scrap heap. "They stopped using it 15 years ago" It sat in a parking lot for years. I don't understand why, when they have been used up, they aren't sold for reasonable prices to interested parties rather than left to rot in fields and parking lots. Think Engine 626. But one of my trucks went that way. From active duty to the DPW to scrap.

Is it just too hard to sell municipal equipment?

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Is it just too hard to sell municipal equipment?

Judging by all the used police cars out there, I would say no.

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According to the article:

We were asking for $5,000," he said. "I wish I could have had a collector come in and grab it."

"Unless someone comes in to take it, a piece of history will be going to the scrap yard. I'll hate to see it go."

Maloy said he's in no hurry to junk the vintage apparatus and is willing to hold onto the truck for a little while longer.

"I'll leave it here until about October," he said. "After that it's going to the junk heap."

"I'd probably take a dollar if someone offered to take it off my hands," he said with a joke.

Anyone interested in acquiring the snorkel should contact Maloy at the Bedford Bedford Park Fire Department. His number is 708-563-4510. — Desplaines Valley News

There still is hope of saving the truck!

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The cost of buying the rig is probably not the main problem, it is more likely the cost of the restoration is.

Then you also have to remember, how many people have a place to store this indoors?

Who has the mechanical ability to keep up with the maintenance for this?

It is a nice idea to keep it and restore it, but it comes with a price that will turn most people, even interested people, away.

Edited August 11, 2014 by 10512

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A great update on this story:

Fire Chief Sean Maloy said the truck, which was the first original Snorkel manufactured in 1959, will be donated to Smeal Fire Apparatus of Snyder, Neb. “They said the Snorkel will be restored 100 percent to its condition when delivered to the Bedford Park Fire Department on March 31, 1960,” Maloy said.

The company will keep the Snorkel on display in its museum as well as take it to fire apparatus shows. Smeal bought the rights to the Snorkel name from LTI in June, Maloy said. “They plan to start building Snorkels again and want to show off the original truck at fire conferences,” Maloy said. “It will definitely be a marketing tool.”

FULL ARTICLE: http://desplainesvalleynews.com/bedford-park-snorkel-saved-from-scrap-yard-p1273-90.htm