A historical treasure

By Elizabeth Doran

Published: May. 22, 2015 on Syracuse.com  (Link)

When the restored '27 "Little Buffalo" makes its debut in the Minoa Memorial Day parade Monday, it will have special meaning for local firefighters.

Minoa's very first fire engine, manufactured by The Buffalo Fire Engine Corp., was used to battle the village's largest blaze in 1940 — a fire that destroyed St. Mary's Church.

The small fire engine was traded by the village in 1953 for a new '53 Mack, Minoa's first green fire engine. Tom Schepp, a longtime Minoa resident who restores antique cars, restored that engine in 2009.

In April 2014, Schepp was cleaning out his father's desk after his death when he discovered a folder of photos and articles of an old fire engine. In one of the articles, firemen were arguing about what type of engine it was: some said it was Minoa's Ward LaFrance and others disagreed.

Schepp began to investigate.

"I couldn't leave it alone,'' he said. "I began to track it down, starting in Minoa's village hall."

He discovered the engine had been sold to a farmer on Long Island, and then to another farmer in Connecticut, who later sold it for $45. The man who bought it, Bob Hotaling, spent the next 60 years preserving the fire engine. After his death, his son, Rick, kept the engine.

When Schepp contacted Rick Hotaling and asked to buy the engine, Hotaling refused because the engine had meant so much to his dad, Schepp said. In 2012, Schepp sent a letter to Hotaling asking to borrow the engine for Minoa's 100th anniversary celebration, but never got an answer.

Years later, in 2013, Schepp received a phone call from the Sharon Fire Department in Connecticut, which now owned the engine and had been given Schepp's earlier letter. The department offered to sell the engine.

Schepp said he was "floored" and "speechless" at the offer, and agreed. He would not say how much he paid.

Over the next year, Schepp and mechanic Carl van Kesteren took the engine apart, rebuilding it one boat at a time. As they took apart the pump, the found numerous animal nests. The pair then worked on the body and repainted it.

The truck's history is precious, but Schepp says what's most important "is the community pride represented by this fire engine, now home for good."