Rare fire vehicle gifted back to Las Cruces

Luisa Barrios
·3 min read
Rare fire vehicle gifted back to Las Cruces

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – Wes Melo and the Melo Living Trust, of Roseburg, Oregon gifted the 1915 American LaFrance/Ford Model-T Type A chemical fire engine back to its “original owner,” the Las Cruces Fire Department, on Monday, December 4.

“It’s your fire engine now. It belongs back here,” said Wes Melo. “That fire engine is important to the city. It was an honor for me to give it back to the city.”

This photo, circa 1915, shows Las Cruces volunteer firefighters standing near the 1915 American LaFrance/Ford Model-T fire engine that was recently gifted back to the LCFD.
This photo, circa 1915, shows Las Cruces volunteer firefighters standing near the 1915 American LaFrance/Ford Model-T fire engine that was recently gifted back to the LCFD.

The fire engine was built three years after New Mexico became a state; when Woodrow Wilson was president, William C. McDonald was New Mexico’s governor and R.P. Porter was the mayor of Las Cruces.

According to an American LaFrance historian, the 1915 engine may be the second oldest of its kind to still exist. The truck is the earliest known motorized engine in Las Cruces and was in use from 1915 until 1934 when it was decommissioned.

The 20-horsepower vehicle was sent to pasture, rusting away in a scrap yard, until it was saved by Las Cruces volunteer firefighter Joe Melendrez in 1937. Melendrez and his family cared for the apparatus and displayed it in parades until 1999 when they advertised it for sale on the Model T Ford Club of America website.

Melo, now 80 and a retired executive, purchased the vehicle in 1999 and worked nine years to meticulously restore the apparatus to its original state. He cared for the apparatus for 24 years before gifting it back to the Las Cruces Fire Department.

Wes Melo stands next to the 1915 American LaFrance/Ford Model-T fire engine.
Wes Melo stands next to the 1915 American LaFrance/Ford Model-T fire engine.

“We’re pleased and honored to receive this engine back into our fleet,” said Las Cruces Fire Chief Jason Smith. “We’re grateful for the gift bestowed upon us by Mr. Melo and his family. Wes has cared for this engine for many years and now it will serve as a testament to the long and proud history of our department.”

The American LaFrance Ford Model-T musters a full 20-horsepower. The engine was a workhorse of an apparatus back in 1915 considering firefighters used buckets and horse-drawn wagons before motorized vehicles. In the late 1700s firefighters used hand pumpers that were pulled by firefighters. Hand-drawn equipment was followed by horse-drawn boiler pumpers. These boilers used steam to drive pumps that would pressurize firefighting hose lines.

The chemical engine is rare. The concept was invented in France in the 1860s and utilizes two 25-gallon tanks that produce a chemical reaction from concentrated sulfuric acid and sodium bicarbonate to pressurize the hose lines.

Smith says the 1915 engine will find a permanent display home when Fire Station 9 is constructed on the City’s East Mesa. The apparatus, which runs and functions as new, will be utilized during parades and events.

Wes Melo and his restoration of the 1915 American LaFrance Ford Model-T engine was featured in a 2016 issue of Fire Apparatus Magazine.

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