By Dan Goldberg
The Star-Ledger
DOVER, N.J. — It was bought before the Second World War.
It remained in service through the Clinton administration, and tomorrow, the Dover Fire Department’s 1937 American LaFrance Pumper will parade the streets of downtown Dover, looking younger than it has in 70 years.
The polished and painted truck will be on display at the department’s 135th anniversary parade, the product of a decade’s worth of reconstructing, rebuilding and refurbishing.
“We’re proud of our heritage,” said Fire Chief Paul McDougall. “Fire departments are about tradition. We’re happy to maintain that tradition.”
Tradition is the focus of the parade, which will begin at 1 p.m., making its way up Blackwell Street toward the Second Street park. McDougall said he is expecting 45 other fire companies to join.
The department will also show off other preserved relics, some of which date back to the department’s founding in 1874, some even before that.
Dover’s original hand pump will be on display. It was purchased in 1844, three decades before there was a public fire department, and donated by George Richards, who was president of the Dover Iron Company and later the town’s first mayor in 1899.
The steam pumper, which will be pulled along the parade route by a team of horses, was purchased in 1885 for $3,400, one-third of the town’s budget at the time. It remained in service until 1923, and its restoration was completed in 1999.
Both reconstruction projects were headed by Walt Fegely, who will have the honor of driving the restored American LaFrance at the head of the parade.
“It runs like a champ,” said Joe Regelski, who witnessed the first test drive.
Regelski, a former fire chief, joined the department in 1972, a relative rookie compared with the parade’s five grand marshals, who are being honored for at least 50 years of service.
The department has hosted a parade every five years since 1969, McDougall’s first on the job. He remembers riding the American LaFrance when it was used as a secondary truck for the town.
Back then, he said, parades were anticipated events. Lately, though, attendance has dwindled, and it has been harder for the department to recoup the cost.
“Interest is way down,” Regelski said. “They are so expensive. It’s a dying thing, you know.”
Regelski and McDougall, who have nearly a century’s worth of community service between them, said they hope the restored vehicles will rekindle a sense of excitement in the town’s department and their parades.
“We take a lot of pride in the history of our department,” Regelski said. “We’re very proud of what we have done.”
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