A fire engine purchased in 1918 for the Sebewaing fire department has taken up residence at the Old Sebewaing Township Hall after being restored by a collector from western Michigan. The antique engine was delivered to the Sebewaing Historical Society on Thursday.
A fire engine purchased in 1918 for the Sebewaing fire department has taken up residence at the Old Sebewaing Township Hall after being restored by a collector from western Michigan. The antique engine was delivered to the Sebewaing Historical Society on Thursday.
A fire engine purchased in 1918 for the Sebewaing fire department has taken up residence at the Old Sebewaing Township Hall after being restored by a collector from western Michigan. The antique engine was delivered to the Sebewaing Historical Society on Thursday.
A fire engine purchased in 1918 for the Sebewaing fire department has taken up residence at the Old Sebewaing Township Hall after being restored by a collector from western Michigan. The antique engine was delivered to the Sebewaing Historical Society on Thursday.
A fire engine purchased in 1918 for the Sebewaing fire department has taken up residence at the Old Sebewaing Township Hall after being restored by a collector from western Michigan. The antique engine was delivered to the Sebewaing Historical Society on Thursday.
A fire engine purchased in 1918 for the Sebewaing fire department has taken up residence at the Old Sebewaing Township Hall after being restored by a collector from western Michigan. The antique engine was delivered to the Sebewaing Historical Society on Thursday.
A fire engine purchased in 1918 for the Sebewaing fire department has taken up residence at the Old Sebewaing Township Hall after being restored by a collector from western Michigan. The antique engine was delivered to the Sebewaing Historical Society on Thursday.
A fire engine purchased in 1918 for the Sebewaing fire department has taken up residence at the Old Sebewaing Township Hall after being restored by a collector from western Michigan. The antique engine was delivered to the Sebewaing Historical Society on Thursday.
A fire engine purchased in 1918 for the Sebewaing fire department has taken up residence at the Old Sebewaing Township Hall after being restored by a collector from western Michigan. The antique engine was delivered to the Sebewaing Historical Society on Thursday.
A fire engine purchased in 1918 for the Sebewaing fire department has taken up residence at the Old Sebewaing Township Hall after being restored by a collector from western Michigan. The antique engine was delivered to the Sebewaing Historical Society on Thursday.
A fire engine purchased in 1918 for the Sebewaing fire department has taken up residence at the Old Sebewaing Township Hall after being restored by a collector from western Michigan. The antique engine was delivered to the Sebewaing Historical Society on Thursday.
A fire engine purchased in 1918 for the Sebewaing fire department has taken up residence at the Old Sebewaing Township Hall after being restored by a collector from western Michigan. The antique engine was delivered to the Sebewaing Historical Society on Thursday.
A fire engine purchased in 1918 for the Sebewaing fire department has taken up residence at the Old Sebewaing Township Hall after being restored by a collector from western Michigan. The antique engine was delivered to the Sebewaing Historical Society on Thursday.
A fire engine purchased in 1918 for the Sebewaing fire department has taken up residence at the Old Sebewaing Township Hall after being restored by a collector from western Michigan. The antique engine was delivered to the Sebewaing Historical Society on Thursday.
A fire engine purchased in 1918 for the Sebewaing fire department has taken up residence at the Old Sebewaing Township Hall after being restored by a collector from western Michigan. The antique engine was delivered to the Sebewaing Historical Society on Thursday.
A fire engine purchased in 1918 for the Sebewaing fire department has taken up residence at the Old Sebewaing Township Hall after being restored by a collector from western Michigan. The antique engine was delivered to the Sebewaing Historical Society on Thursday.
A fire engine purchased in 1918 for the Sebewaing fire department has taken up residence at the Old Sebewaing Township Hall after being restored by a collector from western Michigan. The antique engine was delivered to the Sebewaing Historical Society on Thursday.
A fire engine purchased in 1918 for the Sebewaing fire department has taken up residence at the Old Sebewaing Township Hall after being restored by a collector from western Michigan. The antique engine was delivered to the Sebewaing Historical Society on Thursday.
A fire engine purchased in 1918 for the Sebewaing fire department has taken up residence at the Old Sebewaing Township Hall after being restored by a collector from western Michigan. The antique engine was delivered to the Sebewaing Historical Society on Thursday.
The original bill of sale for a fire engine purchased in 1918 for the Sebewaing fire department is shown. The engine has taken up residence at the Old Sebewaing Township Hall after being restored by a collector from western Michigan. The antique engine was delivered to the Sebewaing Historical Society on Thursday.
Warren Lun, a retired mechanical engineer from Ada, has a unique hobby: He purchases and restores antique firefighting “apparatuses,” as he calls them.
It’s a hobby he picked up as a college student when he accompanied his older brother, a Detroit firefighter, to purchase a fire engine at an out-of-state auction. He was hooked, and now, more than 40 years later, it’s one in which he is fully immersed.
But he doesn’t collect them. After he restores the antique equipment, some dating back to the 1850s, he loans them out to museums throughout the Midwest. Lun said he has restored “countless” fire engines and other types of equipment.
“I lost track at 10,” Lun said.
One of his recent projects was a fire engine purchased by the village of Sebewaing in 1918. Now completely restored, Lun delivered the fire engine to the Sebewaing Area Historical Society on Thursday and helped move it into the Old Sebewaing Township Hall, which will serve as the fire engine’s home indefinitely.
“Our fire department is very excited about the loan and are supporting us with monetary help to transport the truck from a museum in Cleveland,” said Betty Guenther, secretary of the historical society.
Lun said the engine, which used gasoline to power the water pump, was pulled to the scene of fires by the firefighters themselves. The pump is equipped with hoses along either side, includes a seat at the front of the rig — which sits atop four large, wagon-type wheels — and features a pair of replica brass lanterns containing red glass.
The engine, according to the original bill of sale addressed to the Sebewaing council president and council members, was manufactured by the Waterous Company of St. Paul, Minnesota, which is still in business to this day.
The apparatus was described in the document as a “No. 6 - Class B - Gasoline Fire Engine, complete with standard equipment — one 10-foot length, 3 1/2-inch suction hose and one 20-foot length, 3 1/2-inch suction hose, lettered ‘Sebewaing Fire Dept. No. 1.’” A 300-foot, 2 1/2-inch “single-jacket,” rubber-lined fire hose, coupled, is also mentioned with instructions to obtain the hose from a New Jersey company.
Engines like Sebewaing Fire Dept. No. 1 drew water from hydrants, waterworks or even bodies of water, Lun said. Sebewaing happened to have a hydrant system in 1918, he added.
Lun said his love of American history helps fuel his interest in antique firefighting equipment, adding that Benjamin Franklin and George Washington both served as firefighters and Franklin formed the first firefighting company in the United States.
An unofficial historian of the Waterous Company, one of Lun’s tasks when restoring antique equipment is establishing its provenance, as he did with the Sebewaing engine. He said the pieces he acquires must have some historical significance and is selective when deciding what he purchases. He said an unrestored engine like the Sebewaing one sold for $45,000, but he considers his engines to be “priceless.”
“You really can’t put a value on it,” he said.
Fire engines that Lun has restored can be found in The Western Reserve Fire Museum and Education Center in Cleveland and the Mansfield Fire Museum and Education Center in Mansfield, Ohio.
Mark Birdsall has been a reporter at the Huron Daily Tribune since July 2019.
Prior to arriving at the Tribune, Mark was night desk editor for the Cadillac News, where he also helped out the sports department on busy high school football and basketball nights. He previously worked at the Holland Sentinel and the Greenville Daily News.
He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in print journalism from Grand Valley State University, where he was editor of the student newspaper, The Lanthorn.
A native of Bay City, Mark is an avid fan of the Detroit Red Wings, Detroit Tigers, Michigan State Spartans and the Chicago Cubs. He's also a movie buff and enjoys fishing in his spare time.