Yesterday's News - Old Engine #10

It's a service we take for granted today - our local fire department. But until the late 1960s, Niwot's fire protection came from Longmont, which at the time had only one truck assigned to cover rural calls.

All of that changed in 1968, however, when the Left Hand Men's Club formed Niwot's volunteer fire department. Only Mike Holubec and Pete Plantiga had any previous experience, so they were chosen to conduct a training program. "We had training sessions at the Left Hand Water office," Holubec recalled, "where we taught some of the fundamentals of fire fighting" When the two men reached the limit of their expertise, they collaborated with the St. Vrain Valley School District's Outdoor Education program to bring instructors in from the Denver Fire Department.

The first order of business was construction of a firehouse. A financial campaign was launched, and a 99-year lease was signed with Left Hand Grange to build the facility at the rear of their property. It was dedicated during the first Niwot Nostalgia Days celebration in 1969.

The department's first fire truck was Engine #10, which was reassigned from the Longmont Fire District. The old Chevy was one of four fire engines purchased by the county in 1946, and was originally assigned to Mead, then to Longmont where it was used to cover rural fires.

Because Red Southern worked second shift at the new IBM plant, he became the department's first day captain. "We may have had fifteen to twenty volunteers, but during the day they were all working," Red explained. "Sometimes you were the only one on the truck because nobody else would show up."

Women from the fire department auxiliary were often pressed into service for daytime calls. "When I was day captain of the crew," Dick Hicks recalled, "we were having problems with train fires. We suspected the train crew was settin' them just to see the fire department run, because my crew was six women." But the ladies exacted their revenge on the day the train stopped and backed up to the Niwot crossing. According to Hicks, the engineer leaned out of the cab and made a smart remark to the volunteer working the fire hose. "The gal on the nozzle just lifted it up," he laughed, "and shot him right out of his seat."

When the new Mountain View Fire Station was built east of Niwot in 1982, Engine #10 stayed behind in the old firehouse. It had been four years since its last fire call.

"It's still capable of fighting fires if need be," Southern explained, "even though it holds a very limited supply of water."