'Doing a good thing on a day like today'
Andy Swift of Firefly Restoration in Hope, second from left, helps push Camden Fire Department's 1892 Amoskeag horse-drawn steam fire pumper into a bay at the station Tuesday, Sept. 11.
Leading the way, Andy Swift joins Camden firefighters in moving the town's 1892 steam fire pumper outside for a "spit and shine."
Camden's 1892 horse-drawn steam fire pumper heads outside on the anniversary of 9/11.
Many hands are needed Tuesday to move Camden's antique steam fire pumper.
Back in the late 1800s, a pair of horses would make easy work of moving this antique steam fire pumper.
After moving the antique steam fire pumper out of its viewing room at the Camden Fire Station Tuesday, it's pushed back into a bay at the fire station.
A little more muscle is needed to get Camden's antique steam fire pumper inside the fire station, where some preservation work soon got underway Tuesday.
Mary Stiehler buffs and polishes.
Results of polishing are soon seen on the shiny bits of Camden's antique steam fire pumper.
Lanterns are often thehardest part to replace on an antique fire vehicle, because they are often the first to break or become lost.
The 1892 horse-drawn steam fire pumper was purchased for the town of Camden by the Molyneaux family and it replaced hand-powered pumpers and bucket brigades.
Tom Hopkins of Firefly Restorations in Hope.
Camden Fire Chief Chris Farley.
Camden firefighter Cheyne Hansen.
Camden firefighters join with Andy Swift of Firefly Restorations in sprucing up the town's antique horse-drawn steam fire pumper as a way to do something good on the anniversary of 9/11.
A coat of boiled linseed oil helps preserve the wood and the original paint on the whiffle tree of Camden's 1892 horse-drawn steam fire pumper.
Andy Swift of Firefly Restoration in Hope, second from left, helps push Camden Fire Department's 1892 Amoskeag horse-drawn steam fire pumper into a bay at the station Tuesday, Sept. 11.
Leading the way, Andy Swift joins Camden firefighters in moving the town's 1892 steam fire pumper outside for a "spit and shine."
Camden's 1892 horse-drawn steam fire pumper heads outside on the anniversary of 9/11.
Many hands are needed Tuesday to move Camden's antique steam fire pumper.
Back in the late 1800s, a pair of horses would make easy work of moving this antique steam fire pumper.
After moving the antique steam fire pumper out of its viewing room at the Camden Fire Station Tuesday, it's pushed back into a bay at the fire station.
A little more muscle is needed to get Camden's antique steam fire pumper inside the fire station, where some preservation work soon got underway Tuesday.
Mary Stiehler buffs and polishes.
Results of polishing are soon seen on the shiny bits of Camden's antique steam fire pumper.
Lanterns are often thehardest part to replace on an antique fire vehicle, because they are often the first to break or become lost.
The 1892 horse-drawn steam fire pumper was purchased for the town of Camden by the Molyneaux family and it replaced hand-powered pumpers and bucket brigades.
Tom Hopkins of Firefly Restorations in Hope.
Camden Fire Chief Chris Farley.
Camden firefighter Cheyne Hansen.
Camden firefighters join with Andy Swift of Firefly Restorations in sprucing up the town's antique horse-drawn steam fire pumper as a way to do something good on the anniversary of 9/11.
A coat of boiled linseed oil helps preserve the wood and the original paint on the whiffle tree of Camden's 1892 horse-drawn steam fire pumper.
Andy Swift makes his living restoring and preserving old fire vehicles at his Firefly Restorations shop in Hope and each year, as Sept. 11 rolls around, his mind is on the firefighters who lost their lives that day in 2001.
"I was looking around and hearing about people volunteering to do good things as a way to remember this day and I wanted to do something, as well," said Swift.
Camden Fire Chief Chris Farley and Swift had been talking for a couple of years about sprucing up the town's 1892 horse-drawn steam pumper. The last time the steam pumper had been really polished and oiled was in 1999 or 2000.
"It was back in the MBNA days," said Swift. "There was talk of doing a full restoration then, but I didn't want to do it because there was so much original paint left."
Swift said other factors ultimately ended talk of a restoration; instead, some preservation work was completed and the steam pumper was put back out for the public to view.
Jump forward to the afternoon of Sept. 11, 2012, and the preservation team at the fire station included Swift, Farley, Cheyne Hansen, Tom Hopkins, Mary and Bob Stiehler, and Tom Quantrell.
Since nobody brought a pair of mighty steeds to pull the steam pumper out of the UV glass enclosed public viewing room outside the fire station, the task was accomplished by manpower.
It was then time to buff and polish, and put a fresh coat of boiled linseed oil on the wooden parts.
Swift said that back in the day, Rockland had three horse-drawn steam engines, but that those are long gone.
Since nobody brought a pair of mighty steeds, manpower propelled the engine out of the fire station.
"Houlton still has one and Fairfield does, too," said Swift. "We borrowed Fairfield's at one time to make the replacement whistle for Camden's."
He added that Skowhegan still has an antique steam engine, which resides in the Seal Cove Auto Museum on Mount Desert Island.
Other bits of trivia: Camden's steam engine has a fire hitch, which allowed the pair of harnessed horses to pull it with more freedom of movement. Swift also said that hilly San Francisco would have had steam engines this size back in the early days of firefighting.
"They would have run more of them because a large steam engine would have been too hard for horses to pull up their hills," said Swift.
Farley said he was happy that Swift was on site, lending his expertise to spruce up the engine.
"We've talked about it over the years, to help preserve it," he said. "Even though it's inside a UV protected glass room, the sun still affects it. It's good to be preserving a part of the town's history."
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