The 1952 Ford truck that served the early residents of the Summer Village of Chestermere just received a wonderful gift toward its completion. Brent Paquette whose family have lived in Chestermere since the 70s, has donated to the Chestermere Historical Foundation, a historic siren from an early City of Calgary firetruck that was also used in Chestermere.
To quote Brent, “[The siren] was not on [the] first fire truck in Chestermere, but [a truck that] came out of Calgary NO.1 Fire Hall & served the City of Calgary from 1912 until 1973. [Fire Hall No.1] was boarded up and in the early 1980s Chestermere Fire Chief Wayne Paquette [my father] and Deputy Chief Roy Berg were in the old building and acquired the siren for the Summer Village of Chestermere Lake, unfortunately we do not know what truck it was ever on in Calgary.
We do know it was on the 2nd and 3rd fire truck in Chestermere for sure. Old members told me that it was taken off the 3rd fire truck when I was a little kid… It was [stored] under a work bench in the back of the fire hall. Many, many years passed and in 2000 the Chestermere Chief at that time was cleaning up and … he put it in the garbage and I asked if I could have it and he said yes. For the next 12 years of its life it has been under my work bench and now is finally back where it should be back on a Chestermere Fire truck. It has not been out of the Town Chestermere town or Chestermere Summer Village limits in over 25 years.” The siren is manufactured by Federal Signal and CHF is working on finding out the date of manufacture and its value as a vintage siren.
The photo shows FF Brent Paquette and Vince Young, chief of restoration for the 1952 truck. Vince has tested the siren and the sound it makes leaves no doubt in your mind that a fire truck is on its way! The CHF very much appreciates Brent’s donation to the restoration and his enthusiasm for this project. Next time the 1952 truck is out on display there will be some siren demonstrations for sure. If you would like to work on restoration of this truck and have some time to spend on Thursday evenings, give Vince Young ( chef de restoration!) at 403 819-4117. Go to www.chestermerehistory.org to catch up on the photo record of restoration
