09/11/2026
🚒 A Fire Truck With a Story to Tell
If this 1982 LaFrance pumper could talk, it would have quite a story.
Its journey began with Westbury Hose Company #1 on Long Island, New York, where it spent its first 20 years serving the community and responding to hundreds of calls alongside volunteer firefighters.
Then came September 11, 2001.
The truck had already been sold and was waiting to make its journey to a new home in Henderson, Arkansas. But after the attacks on the World Trade Center, so many FDNY apparatus were destroyed or severely damaged that this pumper’s trip south was put on hold.
Instead, it was sent back into service in New York City—helping firefighters while replacement equipment was desperately needed.
Eventually, in March 2002, its journey continued.
From the paved streets of Long Island to the hills, curves and gravel roads of North Central Arkansas, this old truck had a few things to learn. No fire hydrants everywhere. Water shuttles. Drop tanks. Rural firefighting.
But just like the volunteers who climbed aboard it, it adapted.
It served the Henderson Volunteer Fire Department, supporting Henderson and neighboring communities for years. Its volunteers maintained it, trained with it and kept it ready whenever the call came.
Then, in 2020, another chapter began.
The pumper moved to Lakeway Fire Department, where volunteers once again gave it some love—restoring hoses and gauges and even giving it its bell back. ❤️
More than four decades after it was built, this truck represents something much bigger than steel, hoses and a pump.
It represents volunteers. Communities. Service. History.
And tucked inside its story is a chapter that will forever connect a little piece of North Central Arkansas to one of the darkest days in our nation’s history.
🇺🇸 We will never forget September 11, 2001.
🚒 Same truck. Different roads. Always a purpose.
