Retired Chelsea fire truck donated to museum

In December, the Southern Vintage Fire Apparatus Association took possession of the Chelsea Fire & Rescue Department’s 1985 Pierce Engine 31.

Engine 31 was purchased to replace a military deuce and a half, which was being used for fire suppression at the time. The department board members cosigned a loan to purchase the truck, which was the first new fire engine in Chelsea.

At the time, there were several active volunteers who attended weekly meetings to train on the operation of the truck. Chelsea became the “Town of Chelsea” in the late 1990s and around the year 2000, the first paid firefighters were hired, in addition to the volunteers.

The Town of Chelsea secured funding to purchase a 2000 model Quality fire engine (Current Engine 33) and the paid firefighters responded on the Quality, while the volunteers continued to respond on the 1985 Ford Pierce.

In the mid 2000s, as Chelsea continued to grow, the 1985 Ford Pierce truck became a reserve truck. It remained in service as a reserve until 2020 when it was removed from service completely.

In its 35 years of service to the City of Chelsea, it ran thousands of calls in the city and with neighboring departments for mutual aid. Over the years, the truck was used multiple times as a caisson for the funerals of many of the original volunteers. Its final act of service was to stand by at the cemetery during the funeral of Fire Chief Wayne Shirley, the first paid fire chief of Chelsea, in August of 2020. Chief Shirley was very fond of this truck as he started his career in the fire service as a Chelsea Volunteer and responded to countless calls on this truck during that time.

While many decommissioned fire apparatus are either scrapped or donated to smaller departments, Engine 31 will be on display at the Southern Vintage Fire Apparatus Association

“It has a legacy of serving our city and those around us, as well as playing an enormous part in getting our fire department where it is today and paying tribute to the ones who came before us,” said Fire Chief Joe Lee. “We wanted something better than that for the ‘85 Engine 31.”

Lee said the department reached out to the Southern Vintage Fire Apparatus Museum in Birmingham, who said not only did they have room for Engine 31, but they came and picked it up themselves.

“Their level of excitement to have it has definitely reassured us that it is in good hands there,” Lee said. “So now, instead of being cooped up in a bay collecting dust, it will serve as a piece of history for not only the fire service but also the City of Chelsea and how far we’ve come.”

– Submitted by Chelsea Fire & Rescue Department.

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