Retired Chief Feels Obligated to Help Under-Served KY Departments

Dec. 26, 2017
Howard Peiffer, a retired chief from Florida, helped two deserving Kentucky fire departments get donated trucks.

A bit of good news at the holidays is always welcome and, for firefighters, what could be more heartwarming than a gift of a fire engine, or two.

Howard Peiffer, a retired fire chief from Palm Coast, FL, Fire Department was instrumental in the donation of two New York engines that served in Florida, to rural Appalachian fire departments in Kentucky.

Peiffer, 76, has been part of a fire service for 60 years and counting. He has been a fire truck enthusiast for just as many years having purchased them for the fire departments he has served as well as for personal use as a collector of antique apparatus, Fairchester Hose Haulers membership secretary, and a member of the Society for the Preservation & Appreciation of Antique Motor Fire Apparatus in America (SPAAMFA).

That made Peiffer the perfect person to make the connection between Palm Coast and the Sunshine Volunteer Fire Department in Harlan, KY, and the Lower Clover Fork Fire Department in neighboring Evarts, KY. Sunshine volunteers got a 1984 Mack in early December and Lower Clover firefighters got a 1986 Mack in two years ago, in January, 2016.

Both of the departments are in economically disadvantaged coal country areas without much equipment to fight fire and Peiffer immediately saw the need and decided to do something about it.

“I get emotional about it,” Peiffer said, getting a little choked up during a recent telephone interview. “It’s a very good feeling to help people in need. They have next to nothing to work with. They heat with coal stoves to maintain themselves in the wintertime. …It’s a very depressed area and I figured I’ve got to do something to help these people out.”

One might wonder how Peiffer, who lives in one of the fastest growing counties in the nation on Florida’s east coast connected with firefighters in Kentucky.

Peiffer explained that through his membership with SPAAMFA, he met Stamford, CT, police officer Don Holden at a muster in Connecticut about three years ago.

“He mentioned to me that he had donated one of his CF Macks to a fire department in the southeastern coal region of Kentucky,” Peiffer said. “He drove it down there and donated it to the Yocum Creek Volunteer Fire Department."

As the conversation continued, Peiffer said he learned of the plight of other fire departments in the area trying to work with apparatus with blown engines and broken transfer cases.

“He described how depressed the area was and I said ‘We’ve got to do something to help these people,'” Peiffer said.

As luck would have it, the Palm Coast Fire Department was preparing to retire the three ‘80s vintage Macks he recommended the department purchase while he was the interim chief. The Macks came from the New Hyde Park, NY, Fire Department on Long Island. In 2004, Palm Coast was experiencing explosive growth and Peiffer said he needed apparatus as back up units and for the volunteer companies within the department.

A deal was struck and Palm Coast purchased all three trucks, a ‘84, ‘85 and an ‘86, for $55,000.

They were good strong trucks, with good pumps and years left of firefighting in them, Peiffer said, while acknowledging they no longer fit the standards for Palm Coast, being more than 30 years old with open canopy cabs.

So, he decided to make a pitch to the city officials to sell the 1986 Mack to Lower Clover Fork for $1,500.

“When I made my presentation, and told the [Palm Coast] City Councilors how badly they needed the truck, one of the councilors asked the city attorney if they could just give the truck away,” Peiffer said. “The city attorney said there was no reason why they couldn’t do it, so they donated it.”

Peiffer said he personally paid for the transportation of the truck to Harlan County, KY, which cost $1,350 and a week after it was delivered, he spent a few days training the Lower Clover Fork firefighters how to use their “new” truck.

It was quiet an auspicious occasion when the new truck arrived, a TV crew from WYMT-TV in Hazard, KY, to cover the event and there was a “wet down” or christening by other departments. The local minister blessed the truck and put a Bible in the cab, Peiffer said.

When the truck was delivered, Clover Fork Fire Chief Jonathan Jones spoke of the bonds that bind firefighters all over the country.

“It don’t matter where you go in the United States, anywhere, we’re a brotherhood no matter where you go,” Jones told WYMT-TV. “Everybody know the situation and how hard it would be if they were in that situation. So, everybody is willing to help as best they can. We’re a tight brotherhood in the fire service.”

Harlan County, KY, Director of Emergency Management David McGill commented that the truck was going to “help Harlan County tremendously.”

“The fire department had a rough way to go this last little bit and this is going to help them tremendously with their community,” McGill told the television station.

“It was a very nice story,” Peiffer said. “It was a very good feeling.”

The feeling was so good, in fact, that Peiffer replicated the whole process in December. He convinced city officials in Palm Coast to donate the 1984 unit to the Sunshine Volunteer Fire Department in Harlan.

And like the one that went to Lower Clover Fork, Palm Coast donated it and Peiffer footed the bill to get it to Kentucky to the tune of $1,980.

Peiffer said he learned that the Sunshine Fire Department needed a truck because it was providing coverage for a neighboring department that lost its fire station when it collapsed in heavy snow. He said the engine in Sunshine will be going in service in that community most likely by the end of January. He’ll spend time with those firefighters training them as well.

“This truck will protect lives and homes in our district,” Sunshine Fire Chief Steven Hatfield said in a news release issued by Palm Coast. “It is very much needed by our department to service our citizens.”

Palm Coast Fire Chief Mike Beadle, said Peiffer’s efforts saved the apparatus from the scrap yard. The city had no interest serious interest in the purchase of the surplus equipment, so the department agreed to donate them at Peiffer’s request.

“For the last decade, these fire trucks served our department’s needs to ensure that the residents of our City had uninterrupted fire protection,” said Beadle. He added the department decided, in 2015, the Macks “no longer meet our department’s needs.”

Peiffer said while he was in Kentucky on a visit, the 1985 Mack was sold to a local scrapyard that wanted to use it for fire protection its yard. He said he wishes he could have found another fire department home for that one too, but he’s pleased with what he was able to do for two under-served, and deserving departments.

“They’re good, first line fire trucks,” Peiffer said. “They may be 30 years old, but they still function. They still put out fires. …These people once had a booming coal mining industry going, but now, there’s only one working coal mine in the region, and another one may be opening.

Peiffer continues to help out, spreading the word to other departments, including the Mount Hope, NY, Fire Department which has recently donated loose equipment and turnout gear to the departments in Harlan County.

“They don’t have a lot so, I feel obligated to help out and do what I can,” Peiffer said. 

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