Historic 1949 Blaine firetruck gets restoration from local family

For the Renskers and Ooms family, the fire engine had always been more than just a truck. It was a prized 1949 American LaFrance, a sturdy, agile rig that exceeded 40 years’ service as a frontline engine to the Blaine Fire Department – about double the average turnover rate for engines today.

The rig was a Blaine staple. Its retirement in 1989 lent it to regular community appearances with the volunteer firefighters from Santa Claus coming to town to celebrating Borderite state playoffs.

But it also symbolized family for Chet and Lane Renskers and Sabrina Ooms, the father, son and daughter-in-law at North Whatcom Fire and Rescue’s Blaine station on Odell Road. Lane and Sabrina are the last two structural volunteer firefighters who respond from home, and Chet is a volunteer with the Tender Support Group, a group of volunteers who respond to calls as requested to supply large amounts of water.

The 71-year-old rig meant a lifetime of memories: Chet was first introduced to the rig in 1982 when he moved to Blaine and became a volunteer firefighter. It became the first firetruck Lane drove when he turned 18 and, eventually, the truck he and Sabrina watched their daughters grow up on as the two volunteer firefighters brought it to parades.

“To us, it’s priceless because it’s a part of Blaine history, but it’s also who we are as firefighters,” said Sabrina, who is in her 18th year of service.

The Blaine Volunteer Firefighters Association, which acquired the truck after its retirement from the Blaine Fire Department, lacked storage and sold the truck in 2013. Lane, who helped sell the truck, said he felt good knowing it was going to someone in east Whatcom County who used old engines to educate children on fire safety.

But the family deeply missed the truck. After years of contemplating reaching out to the truck’s owner, Lane heard one evening that it was for sale from the same person he had sold it to. He and Sabrina jumped off the couch and headed to the seller’s house.

“It was late, we didn’t even have cash and we couldn’t even stop by the bank on our way over there,” Sabrina said. “We just had to get to him. We said, ‘We’ll come back on Monday with the money.’”

On February 2, 2018, Sabrina and Lane drove the ’49 American LaFrance home. This time it wasn’t the Blaine Volunteer Firefighters Association’s and it wasn’t another buyer’s. It was theirs.

“It felt really good to see that the engine was not only back, but it was ours as a family,” Sabrina said. Their daughters, now grown, acted like kids when they played on the truck again, she said.

Two years later, the engine is now sheltered from the winter in Chet’s backyard where the family works to repair the truck while navigating time and money constraints. Bringing back memories to both the Blaine community and their family is the reason they are working to once again drive the firetruck on the streets of Blaine.

“We’re trying to show people that we’re trying to bring the history back,” Sabrina said.

The project to refurbish the engine to a similar mid-20th century exterior has shown Sabrina and Lane a community of other people looking to restore the same type of retro firetruck in the Pacific Northwest. This journey has led them to gather parts as far as Oregon, and as close to home as surplus from North Whatcom Fire and Rescue – something Lane said helped make their vision a reality with the district’s continued support and generosity.

“As far as physically working on it, it doesn’t seem like very much,” Chet said. “But you put in all the background hours, and there’s quite a few hours Sabrina and Lane have put into it.”

The couple was even able to track down the engine’s ’49 sale documents with the help of Blaine resident and previous fire department volunteer Don Hrutfiord, which have guided them to find the right parts for the rig that was originally sold to the Blaine Fire Department for $16,075.

“It’s very uncommon for the original engine to come back to the city it originated from,” Lane said, who hasn’t met many other people during his search for parts with similar circumstances.

Sabrina and Lane hope to keep the engine in their family as long as possible while also sharing it for the benefit of Blaine residents. Although the couple said they will never be finished restoring the engine, their ambition is to eventually have only small repairs that allow them to tinker with it as they want. The restoration will be an inspiration from the engine’s past instead of a complete reversion to its original state. This way, the family plans to keep details like the original paint’s wear and tear as a tribute to the engine’s history.

Blaine has had a lot of volunteer firefighters, some of whom may not be able to physically volunteer anymore, but the engine still remains a part of them, Chet said. For Chet, the truck represents the legacy of volunteer firefighting.

“There’s always that flame inside of you that will only dim but never go out,” Lane said of his 20 years fighting fires. “Ours has never gone out.”

Currently, the goal is for the red engine to be running by the Fourth of July parade this year. Once the firetruck is mobile, Lane hopes to take it to nearby car shows and as many community events as his family’s schedule allows.

“We want to keep it Blaine,” Lane said. “We want to allow other people to get those memories that they had growing up and seeing it.”

If anyone has more information or photos they would like to share as the Renskers family works to piece together and share more of the fire engine’s history, they are encouraged to email lrenskers@outlook.com.