MARBLEHEAD — Last month, a 1939 Mack firetruck from Marblehead was reunited with its hometown after a 48-year hiatus. The current Marblehead fire Chief, Jason Gilliland, bought it himself.
A firefighter in Sunapee, New Hampshire, where the truck was located at the time, called up the Marblehead station to say: “We have something we think might be yours,” Gilliland recounted.
In 1975, Gilliland explained, the truck was auctioned off to a man named Ray Burns, and sometime later, ended up in Sunapee.
Gilliland said the Sunapee fire station offered it to him for $1,000, to which he replied: “(The) check (is) in the mail.”
He paid for it and went to Sunapee himself, with his family, on Jan. 22 to bring it back home to Marblehead.
“The paint is faded, but it’s in really good shape,” Gilliland said.
Despite its age, the truck still runs and pumps water. He plans to begin the restoration process when the weather gets warmer.
After that, he said, “I’ll take it to (car) shows, put it in parades; it’s just fun to have.”
