Unit 25 31 Years of Community Service
Prior to and after World War Il the John Bean Division of Food Machinery Cooperation (FMC) manufactured fruit sprayers for the agriculture industry. During the war years, John Bean began manufacturing fire trucks for military fire departments using the high pressure fog pumps they had used in the fruit sprayers. Following the war, John Bean began selling these high pressure fog fire trucks throughout the country and world.
Unit 25 began its life on June 27, 1952, when it was delivered to the Chester Volunteer Fire Department in Chesterfield County, Virginia. The John Bean shop delivery number was #663. This was the second fire truck for Chester VFD that had formed in 1943. The original paint scheme was white over red but was repainted all red in the early 1960’s. Unit 25 continued its service at Chester VFD until 1970 when it was declared surplus and sent to the Chesterfield County shop for disposal.
In 1970 the Huguenot Volunteer Fire Department was formed as the second department in Powhatan County Virginia. I was fortunate to be one of the founding members of this department. This new department started with 3 fire trucks that were purchased from Chesterfield County for a total of $500: A 1951 Chevrolet/John Bean; a 1955 Ford/American LaFrance; and Unit 25, a 1952 Chevrolet/John Bean. The company decided to paint two of these fire trucks, including Unit 25, high visibility yellow but had no money to purchase the paint. One of the founding members was a farm equipment dealer and donated the closest color paint that he had, Cub Cadet Yellow. The members then painted the trucks inside the recently constructed fire station. Unit 25 continued its service at the Huguenot Volunteer Fire Department until 1983 when it was declared surplus after 31 years of combined service.
In 1983 a founding member of the department who owned a road construction company obtained Unit 25 to use for transporting water and continued to use it until about 1993. It was then parked in the back lot at his business where it was overtaken by vines, brush, and discarded equipment.
In 2008 1 rescued Unit 25 and started its extensive restoration with the help, expertise, and work of Ronnie Combs of Comb’s Fleet Maintenance, Inc., in Powhatan, Virginia. The renovation was completed in the fall of 2011 just in time to lead the parade of fire trucks from the original Huguenot Volunteer Fire Department building to the grand opening of the new Huguenot Public Safety Building.
Unit 25 can now be regularly seen at parades and events throughout Central Virginia along with other antique fire apparatus owned by members of the Old Dominion Historical Fire Society.
