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A Fiery Passion
Firetruck-collecting couple will never extinguish this flame
By Paula Neely
To say that former assistant fire chief Thomas Herman and his wife, Debbie, have a passion for collecting antique firetrucks and firefighting memorabilia would be an understatement.
The Chesterfield County couple owns 17 antique firetrucks that still run and pump water – plus a few more they are restoring or using for parts. Like a museum, their home is filled from floor to ceiling with antique helmets, extinguishers, badges, alarm boxes, model trucks, toys, posters and almost anything else related to firefighting.
 KEEPING HISTORY FROM THE DUMPSTER
Most of the collection revolves around the City of Richmond’s Fire Department, where Herman served for 13 years of 46 years as a firefighter, and Oren, a firetruck manufacturing company that was based in Roanoke. Some come from his work in Chesterfield’s fire department.
“We want to preserve history for future generations,” Herman said. “There’s so much that’s just blatantly destroyed. Artifacts, tools and equipment are just thrown in dumpsters. Firefighting technology is constantly changing, and it would be nice for future generations to see the way it was done.”
The Hermans’ trucks span the evolution of firetrucks from the first small open-cab trucks built in the 1920s to increasingly larger trucks built through the 1970s with partially closed cabs, aerial ladders, swirling lights, jump seats, and powerful pumps and motors.
Stored in a barn-like garage behind the house, the shiny red, yellow, white and green trucks are perfectly aligned in parallel rows facing the door as if they’re ready to respond to an emergency at a moment’s notice.
But their firefighting days are over. Nowadays, the Hermans and other members of the Old Dominion Historical Fire Society drive the trucks in parades and take them to antique fire apparatus events and competitions.
MACKS, WHITES AND ‘THE LITTLE SQUIRT’
The boomer couple acquired their first truck, a 1952 Mack Pumper, in 1975 from Richmond’s Fire Department. Herman said he persuaded the department not to strip all of the equipment off the truck as it customarily did, so it would be more valuable to collectors. He bought it at auction for $1,156.60, a record high price, more than twice the price of stripped models.
Their “pride and joy” and Debbie’s favorite truck is an open-cab 1929 White Salvage Corps truck. They spent 15 years restoring the stripped and rusted vehicle to a fully equipped, polished red-and-white truck with a working engine.
A published fire department historian and co-founder of the Eagle Fire Inc. protection system and fire safety consulting business, Herman does it all. He researches the firetrucks, tracks down the departments where they served, identifies the tools and equipment they used and then outfits the rigs as they would have been when new. Other experts also assist in the restoration process.
Herman’s favorite trucks include a 1959 mini firetruck called “The Little Squirt,” manufactured by Oren for parades and promotions. Only two were ever made. Because it is small and fairly easy to store, he hopes his children and grandchildren will want to keep it in the family and that their children will play on it just as they did.
A yellow 1977 Mack is another favorite. It was the first new truck used by Chesterfield County Station #13 – Phillips, in the Matoaca area – which Herman helped found. He rode it as chief for the first eight years, then as a firefighter for another 33 years.
“I pumped a lot of water on a lot of fires in this truck,” he says. If his grandchildren become interested in collecting firetrucks, he says, they would probably want to have the one that he rode on, photographed and documented.
TRAVELS TO NYC AFTER SEPT. 11
The Hermans’ connection is not just with local firefighters. After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, they began visiting New York City once a month for five years to help Henry Kidd, a local artist, deliver a commemorative print of his “America’s Heroes” painting to every fire department and police state that had responded to the attacks. (More than 300 framed prints have been presented so far, as first responders in Northern Virginia and Pennsylvania are included in the effort. ) Herman has a cross made from the scrap metal of the Trade Center buildings, as well as hundreds of FDNY memorabilia and uniforms that he plans to display in his garage.
It has been a long time since Herman became interested in firefighting at age 16 as a junior firefighter for Henrico County Engine Company #11.
“It was a chance to get out of school,” he said. But firefighting got in his blood. “I enjoyed being around people who were happy to come to work … and the excitement of it. The main thing was helping people as a first responder on one of, if not the worst, day of their lives.”
Paula Neely is a Richmond area writer and public relations consultant.
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