Photograph by Kathy De La Torre

The old fire engine at Oak Meadow Park is off limits to children now, but the Town Council is determined to bring it up to today's playground safety standards so youngsters can enjoy it once again.

Safety issues temporarily sidetrack old fire engine

By Nathan R. Huff

Generations of Los Gatos children have enjoyed climbing and playing on the historic fire truck in Oak Meadow Park. Town Councilman Steve Blanton is one of them. "The fire engine ... has been a part of the town's character for years," he says. "Kids really seem to come alive on [it]."

When Santa Clara County Fire Chief Doug Sporleder was a boy growing up in Los Gatos, the 1927 American LaFrance truck was stored for a time in his grandfather's barn. "I loved it as a kid," he recalls.

Six months ago, however, a fence went up around the truck, silencing the delighted squeals of children. To youngsters, it might have looked like the work of the Grinch.

In truth, rising concerns over safety and liability issues posed by the dilapidated old truck moved Scott Baker, director of Parks and Public Works, to erect the fence while the town decided what it wanted to do with the historic playground equipment.

"The truck has a number of 'pinch points' and places where kids can get their head trapped," parks superintendent John Iaquinto said. The truck needs to be covered in some places and welded in others to comply with today's stringent safety standards, or it must be removed.

On Oct. 18, the Town Council took a firm stand against removing the truck, giving full support to restoring and renovating the popular piece of equipment.

The council asked the town attorney to review liability issues surrounding the truck and to report back to council. In the meantime, Iaquinto said, his department would be looking at ways to bring the structure up to consumer playground safety standards.

For somewhere "around $10,000," Iaquinto believes the equipment can be brought up to code--a new structure will cost close to $15,000. Iaquinto hopes that a professional painter will volunteer to restore the original colors to the truck.

The truck, once part of the Los Gatos Fire Department, remained on reserve in Sporleder's grandfather's garage until the 1940s. In the 1950s the truck was restored by former fire marshall John Baker and sold to the Los Gatos Lions Club for $750. Richard Wall, who served as Los Gatos fire chief from 1957 until the department was consolidated with the county's in 1970, remembers the truck well.

"In the late 1950s we drove the old truck to the Lions Club convention above Calistoga," Wall said. "We had to stop every 5 to 10 miles to put more water in the radiator." The truck won first prize at the convention.

Upon their return, Wall said, the Lions Club "took everything out that a kid with a tool kit could get a hold of" before placing the truck in Oak Meadow Park. The club maintained the truck for a number of years before handing the duties over to the town.

Now, the town appears ready to open the old engine back up for the community's children once again. "I'd rather see dollars go to refurbish the truck than to buy a new piece of equipment without the same soul," Blanton said.

Sporleder said the county fire department was very happy the town wanted to keep the truck. "It's just one of those things you can't replace," he said.

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