Gonsalves (left) and Mitchell (right) discuss the restoration of Rio Linda’s second fire engine. Photo by Seth Henderson

RIO LINDA, CA (MPG) - Built with funds from the World War II era, the Rio Linda Fire Department’s original fire station, Station No. 111, still stands today across the street from Depot Park, housing a restoration project of the firehouse and its original fire engines, more than 80 years later.

Joint efforts from multiple organizations facilitate the project’s progress, including the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District, the Rio Linda Elverta Recreation and Parks District, as well as passionate individuals who started their firefighting career at that station and others known as the Restoration Crew, which is made up of at least 10 members. 

The original fire station, built around 1945 by firefighters, is owned by Sac Metro Fire and leased to the parks district, which facilitates the restoration to the RLE Foundation for the Future. The foundation raises funds for recreational programs and the restoration of Rio Linda’s second fire truck, Historic Fire Engine No. 2. The Restoration Crew is composed of current and former associates of the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District as well as former members of the Rio Linda Fire Department from before the Sac Metro merger in 2000. 

One Restoration Crew member, Roger Mitchell, a retired Rio Linda Fire Department firefighter and Rio Linda resident, said he has been working with retired Rio Linda teacher and sports coach Hal Morris and others from the Restoration Crew to fully-restore a historic fire engine that originally serviced the community nearly 100 years ago. 

“If it wasn’t for Les Crane and him saving a lot of paperwork and stuff, we wouldn’t know a lot of this stuff,” Mitchell said. “So Les Crane deserves a whole lot of credit for the paperwork of the building here being War Powers Act money.”

Crane was an autobody and fender man in the North Sacramento area, owning his small business in Del Paso Heights, then Rio Linda, according to his obituary. Crane was also a volunteer firefighter with the Rio Linda Fire Department, becoming Rio Linda’s sixth fire chief in 1966 after making assistant chief. He retired from the department in 1975 and died in 2004. 

When Sac Metro Fire was formed in 2000, the Rio Linda Fire District’s station became Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District Station No. 111.

Reserve Fire Fighter Jess Burwell takes Engine 116 to Fleet on her last day. Photo courtesy of Reserve Fire Fighter Dave Manley

Battalion Chief of Sac Metro’s Battalion 5, Brian Gonsalves, said that Station No. 111 was one of the first stations he trained at after joining the district. 

Gonsalves said that he had wedding photos taken while on Rio Linda’s first fire engine that ever operated out of the station, “Old Betsy,” which recently received its commemorative 100-year plaque for the Northern California Horseless Carriage Club at the modern Station No. 111’s open house on Sept. 6.

Rio Linda’s second fire engine is receiving a full period-correct restoration with a few upgrades but nearly identical to how the truck arrived at the station all those years ago, the Restoration Crew said. The truck received intricate artwork, hand painted by a professional artist. Body work and machining that could not be done in-house was outsourced to professional shops to ensure a high-quality restoration. 

Earlier this summer, Sacramento County Supervisor Rosario Rodriguez, announced that approximately 25% of the annual funding allocation of her nonprofits will support organizations such as $5,000 directly to the RLE Foundation for the Future for the restoration of Rio Linda’s second fire engine. The engine’s restoration is part of a larger project to restore the original Station No. 111 as a Fire House Museum. 

An old photograph of “Old Betsy,” Rio Linda’s first fire engine, and “Number 2,” Rio Linda’s second fire engine, hangs on the wall inside the historic Rio Linda fire station. Photo by Seth Henderson

According to the park district’s website regarding the Fire House Museum project, “the goal is to make this the community’s first living-history museum.”

Fourteen-year-member of the Restoration Crew, Joshua Byrd, said that the most accomplishing aspect of the project for him is trying something new and meeting new people. He said that watching it all come together from “full petunia to how she is now” was fulfilling to see after all these years. 

Byrd said that he visited the original Station No. 111 in 1998 and was a part of the opening ceremony for the new Station No. 111 on Rio Linda Boulevard in 2008, shortly after the closure of the original station around 2007. 

Mark Siebert, a veteran reserve firefighter at Sac Metro Fire for more than 20 years and logistics manager, said he has been a liaison for the Restoration Crew, using his vast network of contacts in the fire industry to acquire hard-to-find parts or outsource delicate and tedious work. 

“That’s the cool part with the reserve firefighter program,” Siebert said as he described the different opportunities and relationships he’s experienced throughout his career.  

Siebert shared some of Byrd’s sentiment, saying that more than a decade's worth of work has finally begun to pay off. He said that it’s akin to buying a brand-new car, bringing the fire engine back to the condition it was when it rolled off of the production line.

“It’s just fun to watch,” Siebert said. “To see it from where it started, which is pretty much just an old, rusty fire engine, to even today, where you can see the vision, what it looks like.”

The hand-painted artwork on Rio Linda’s second fire engine was originally layered with flakes of real gold leaf, Siebert said. He never imagined during his first days as a firefighter, Siebert said, that he would have spent more than a decade restoring an original fire engine for the community in which he now lives and serves. 

“It’s pretty cool to have some history of our fire district here, locally. This is what I love about this community,” Siebert said.

Describing a conversation he had with a woman who was saved by a city firefighter, Siebert said he got choked up while they shared a relatable moment, emphasizing the significance of firefighters and first responders, not only for the person in danger but for the first responders. 

“So, being able to be a part of this and to see the history, and understand where that fire truck came from, the things that it did, and you think about modern fire apparatus,” Siebert said. “We never had fully enclosed cabs when I started with the fire department.”

To support the restoration of the historic Rio Linda Fire Engine No. 2, the RLE Foundation for the Future announced a fundraiser dinner on Oct. 4 at the Rio Linda Elverta Community Center, 810 Oak Lane in Rio Linda. To see the flier for the fundraiser, visit https://www.rleparks.com/foundation-for-the-future. 

The dinner is expected to be an “all-you-can-eat” chicken and rib dinner with sides and soft drinks at 5 p.m. and the event is scheduled to feature guest speakers, door prizes, drawings and auctions. According to the event flier, tickets sell out every year and are available in a limited quantity. To purchase tickets for the fundraiser dinner, “text Troy” at 916-243-6904.

“Being able to show old and new,” Siebert said, “I think that’s the coolest part about it because how often do you get to see an antique fire engine?”