It hardly looks like a vintage classic but the Innisfail and District Historical Village now has another fire truck to add to its collection.
At its regular meeting on Feb. 8, council unanimously passed a resolution to turn over ownership of a four-decade-old fire truck to the historical village. And while the museum can restore the vehicle and display it along with its other fire service artifacts, board members may opt to just sell it.
“We are not sure yet. We don't have the room for it. We may turn around and sell it,” said Lawrence Gould, the treasurer and board member of the historical society, noting while the fire truck is still in running condition it is showing its age. “There is a lot of rust. It needs a lot of work to make it museum quality.”
Through an administration report, council was told the 1974 International model was retired and stored at the town yard in 2015. Forty-one years earlier it was built in Red Deer and acquired by the Innisfail Farm Fire Association, a now defunct organization that administered fire protection services outside the town boundaries.
Innisfail fire Chief Dean Clark said the fire truck was used by volunteer town firefighters for rural protective services until about 1990. The town then used it sporadically for several years to perform other services. After being stored a year ago in the town yard it was then moved to the historical village.
Before council unanimously agreed to pass ownership of the fire truck to the historical village, council members and administration discussed the vehicle's future and speculated that it could be restored for display purposes or sold off, depending on what the board of the historical society preferred.
“If they want to proceed forward with selling it they need the ownership of it,” said Helen Dietz, the town's chief administrative officer.
Gould said the society has not yet decided on what it wants to do with the fire truck.
Gould said he believes a Hutterite colony in the region might be interested in buying it but does not know how much the fire engine is now worth.
“They could use it as a water truck for livestock or irrigation purposes or it could still be used as a fire truck on a Hutterite colony,” said Gould, adding board members would have to do some research to determine the vehicle's current value.
He said the fate of the fire truck would likely be discussed at the board's next regular meeting on March 9 before the society's annual general meeting.
Lawrence Gould
"We may turn around and sell it. It needs a lot of work to make it museum quality."
