By Becky Campbell
The Associated Press
JOHNSON CITY — When Johnson City firefighter Shane Malone looked at the shiny red reserve engine sitting inside Fire Station 3, he had to admit he felt some pride.
Just a few months ago the truck, once designated as Engine 5, looked more like a rusting castoff of the department, retired from daily service after the city purchased two new fire engines.
“The doors were rusted, one had been hit by a car and was caved in,” and parts of the truck body had also started to rust because of the door rust, Malone said.
Because the truck is newer — a 1993 model — than the two current 1970s models the department uses for reserve engines, officials wanted to refurbish the engine to put it into the reserve fleet.
“Our other reserve engines are open cabs so the firefighters in the back sit out in the open,” Malone said.
This engine will provide more protection for firefighters, he said.
Several months ago, Malone said Fire Chief Paul Greene approached him about doing the body and paint work. Malone has a small body shop and restores old cars in his off time, so he has experience behind a paint sprayer.
“I told him I’d do it on one condition and that was if I could put flames on the truck,” Malone said.
Greene agreed, and sure enough, there are what Malone calls “ghost flames” on each rounded front corner of the truck. Greene said he wasn’t sure what to expect, but the flames are “growing on me.”
While Malone has overseen the refurbishing project, he certainly isn’t the only firefighter to get their hands dirty. His shift, “C” shift, has worked pretty much nonstop on the project for the last three months during their work days.
“That’s nine or 10 days a month,” he said, because a firefighter’s shift is 24 hours. But it was a lot of hard work involved in the process.
Other shifts also put elbow grease into the project by polishing the diamond tread on the truck to a brand-new shine.