Tucson Fire Restorations – Preserving History

a.k.a. TucsonFox.com

(Please do not confuse this domain with the FoxTucson.com Theater!!)

Our Rigs – Before & After

Recent Restoration Activity

During the 1980’s, a group of TFD firefighters volunteered to restore the 1910 Knott Steamer (with success). The volunteers tried again to restore the 1928 Ahrens Fox in the early 1990’s, but lost funding. The Fox sat in parts for over a decade until a bigger group of volunteers was regenerated and funded in 2006. Using numerous photo galleries, this web site documents the restoration projects since 2006 to the present and current on-going project.

In addition to the 1910 Knott Steamer, the 1928 Ahrens Fox was restored from 2006 – 2009. The 1923 ALF Pumper was restored from 2010 – 2014. The sister 1923 ALF ladder was restored from 2015 – 2022. And the 1930 ALF Quad restoration began in 2021 and continues today.

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Current Project – 1930 ALF Quad

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With the exception of the Steamer, all these restored rigs were at the historic Congress Hotel Fire in January 1934. Events involving this fire lead Tucson Police to arrest John Dillinger. The Congress Hotel celebrates this event annual in Janaury, and weather permitting, the completed rigs make an appearance.

ALF Engine in the forground, ALF Quad just behind the engine, The Ladder in the rear

There are hundreds, upon hundreds of photos of the restorations, sorted by project, year and month. The photos include the tear down of each rig, followed by the meticulous rebuild.

Use the links in the menu above to check out each rig. Each rig’s history (if available) is in the Blue menu drop down.

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Support and Funding for the restorations come from:

For additional historical information about these Original Tucson Fire rigs along with information about many other Tucson Fire rigs – check out the TFD Apparatus History linkin the above menu!!

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Then
Now