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MARRIOTT-SLATERVILLE — A retired Weber County firefighter put his passion for serving the public into restoring and maintaining a piece of his station's history.
A 1930s fire truck had been left to rust away.
"It has no cab, no heater. They called it 'Pneumonia,'" Jerry Stanger explained.
Weber County bought the truck back in 1936, but it still played a part in Stanger's career when he started in 1977.
It was eventually left out back and then passed around.
"For about 20 years, nobody knew where it went," Stanger said.
Then one day he caught sight of it in a field.
"I saw that roof ladder sticking out of some weeds," he said. "It was a treasure, you know. We found it and realized, 'Hey, here's old Pneumonia. Let's see what we can do with it.'"
Over the next few years, Stanger, his sons, and several other people brought the old engine back to life.
"We took it apart and sandblasted, and put it back together," Stanger said.
Now it makes appearances in parades and neighborhood drives.
"When you drive it down the road, people will wave at you. You have no clue who they are," Stanger said. "Everybody's your friend in this."
It has no power steering and no pneumatic brakes. No seatbelts, horns, or rear-view mirrors, either. Stanger says despite the hours he's put into it, this is still Weber County's fire engine, not his.
"It's a piece of history, and I didn't want to see it lost," he said.
