Excerpts from the amboynews.com:
In 1926 the Sublette Fire Department was organized with only a hand-pulled hose cart as its equipment. By 1932 the community came together and solicited funds to purchase its first motorized fire truck.
A 1932 Chevrolet chassis was purchased from Vaessen Brothers Chevrolet. Then the fire apparatus was hand-built by Sublette and Amboy firemen in Bert Hewitt’s garage in Amboy. It was a great day when the new truck arrived and was put on display on Main Street.
By the mid-1940s the need was seen for a newer, better fire truck in order to serve the large rural area, which was part of the newly created Sublette Fire Protection District. A 1946 International chassis was purchased from L.J. Stephenitch, the local International truck dealer.
Since this was just after World War II, trucks were very scarce. The truck was painted green instead of the usual red. The truck was immediately shipped to Lansing, Mich., where it was painted red and equipped with a John Bean high pressure pump apparatus.
Raymond Dinges, Ray Lauer, and Dale Van Duesen went to Lansing to be trained on the truck in early 1947 and then brought it back to Sublette to be placed in service. It was one of the most up-to-date fire trucks in the area.
The truck served as the main fire engine from 1947 until 1962 when another new Chevrolet truck was purchased from Vaessen Brothers and had a body built by Alexis Fire Equipment.
Around 2000, the International was traded to a fire equipment company and they sold it to a farmer near Eureka who used it as a water truck on the farm. Some time ago the farmer, Rick Wiegand, looked at the Sublette village website and contacted Don Dinges to notify him that he had the old Sublette fire truck and was ready to dispose of it. Dinges negotiated with Wiegand and got the truck.
In early November the truck was hauled home. Ironically, the red paint has faded badly and much of the original green paint is exposed. The lettering on the truck is still visible.
Sublette is happy to have the truck back in its original home.
