City of Woodland parts ways with beloved fire engine

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It’s been a year of transition for the Woodland Fire Department. After merging with Clark County Fire & Rescue, the department officially said goodbye to their longtime flagship fire truck, “Big John” after it was recently sold for surplus.

The 1971 Mack CF fire engine was purchased new by the city to replace what had become a vintage 1942 Ford pumper truck. The 1971 fire engine had a 6-cylinder diesel engine and a centrifugal pump that could generate 1,250 gallons per minute. From 1967 to 1990, 3,851 CF’s were built and were among Mack’s most popular models.

The engine earned its name in honor of the late former Woodland Fire Chief John Madsen.

“Big John” was in front line service with the Woodland Fire Department for 34 years, finally being retired in December 2005 when it was replaced by a new American La France engine. EIn the first five months of its final year in service, it answered 97 alarms in the Woodland area.

Unfortunately, as the truck continued to age and was still being used for city functions like Planters Days parades, the issue became the difficulty of insuring “Big John.”

“When fire trucks reach a certain age, they’re not able to keep in active service because the insurance rate goes up,” said Woodland Mayor Grover Laseke. “On top of that, ‘Big John’ just wasn’t useable in its current condition, so we decided to surplus it in the hope it would find a good home.”

Putting it up for sale online at the beginning of September, the engine was purchased by a private buyer and self-admitted fire truck afficionado, John Rossi of Lake Oswego, OR.

“Firefighting runs in my family history as my father was a fireman and assistant chief, my father-in-law served as one in Redwoods City, CA, and I have a cousin who’s a firefighter in Alaska,” said Rossi. “We hold a certain reverence for firefighters and their trucks and I enjoy celebrating that.”

To that end, Rossi has collected several vintage fire trucks and started Fire Truck One, which provides them to people looking to spruce up birthday and other parties, corporate and charitable events, trade shows, reunions, tailgating and more.



“To be honest, my first idea was to buy an old fire truck and turn it into a hot dog stand,” said Rossi. “What I also didn’t want to do was change each one too much, because when people see them, the first questions they ask me are if it served on the line, for how long and where.”

“Big John” will also have some local company in his retirement as it joins a 1968 engine that belonged to the Wahkiakum Fire Protection Dist. 3 that Rossi picked up a few years ago.

“It’s funny in that I will go online and see if there are any new trucks that are available and every so often, one just looks like a perfect fit,” said Rossi. “The Wahkiakum truck only had about 47,000 miles on it and the Woodland truck has just abut 40,000 miles, so there’s still plenty of life in them, even if they can’t be used for front line firefighting.”

Since acquiring “Big John,” Rossi has already put the truck to use for numerous events, including using it as a portable “man cave.”

“The truck has some great storage spaces for fly-fishing poles, so I took him out for an excursion and everyone had a great time,” Rossi said.

Even though the truck is no longer a part of the Woodland community, Rossi said it is not the last time “Big John” will ride through the city it served for more than 30 years.

“I’ve already talked to city officials about bringing him back up for parades and other events whenever they’d like and I’m happy to do so,” said Rossi.

More information about Fire Truck One is available at their website, www.firetruckone.com or by calling (541) 362-1243.