Rare fire truck once used by Bloomington Fire Department found in New Mexico
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — A piece of Minnesota firefighting history is sending some retired volunteers down memory lane.
A collector from New Mexico posted on Facebook last week that he bought an old fire truck and, after tracing some of its history, discovered it belonged to Bloomington beginning in the 1950s.
Fred Fuecker, a 23-year volunteer firefighter, says he served on the truck in 1968.
"Only place you see those is in the old books that we keep," he said.
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Pete Heger volunteered for 25 years. He considers himself an unofficial historian of sorts for the department.
Heger served with the truck too in the 1970s and shared a couple of old photos of it with WCCO.
Neither Heger nor Fuecker thought they'd ever see it again.
"Brought back memories when I was at the old station before a lot of these guys were even around," Fuecker said.
According to the collector, only 36 of the 1951 Mack trucks were made.
Heger says the truck was custom-built for Bloomington.
"If they brought it up around here, certainly I'd go look at it if I could," he said.
Heger says he'd love to take all the history he has about Bloomington Fire and create an exhibit so he can share it with people.