When retired San Jose Fire Capt. Sam Seibert turned 95 in 2014, a party in his honor was held at the warehouse on Senter Road where the San Jose Fire Museum stored its amazing collection. On Monday, a celebration of Seibert’s 100th birthday took place at old Fire Station No. 1, the museum’s new downtown home which will soon open to the public.
Seibert arrived in style to the midday party, wearing his captain’s helmet and riding shotgun on a 1937 fire truck that he drove in the late 1940s in Willow Glen, where he still lives. Even with a century under his suspenders, Seibert is still sharp and can spin a good yarn about how he arrived at the Central Fire Station on Market Street in 1951.
“They sent five guys out of San Francisco to join the San Jose Fire Department with one purpose, getting it into a union,” he said, rattling off the names of the suspected unionizers. Fire Chief Lester O’Brien would have none of it, Seibert recalled, and decided to scatter everyone around.
“O’Brien said, ‘I run this goddamn department, and let me show you how it’s done.’ He put everyone’s name in a hat, and he pulled ’em out and said here’s where you go,” Seibert said. “I was a driver at Station Four, 254 Spencer St., and I came to work here for Engine 1. He shook us all over the department. That’s a true story.”
Seibert put in 30 years with the department, ending with his retirement in 1976. The station remained open until 2000, when it was replaced by a new Station No. 1 next door.
Seibert has helped build the San Jose Fire Museum with more than memories, though. John McMillan, president of the museum, said that besides the Brandenburg family which donated $1 million so the museum could buy the old fire station from the successor to the Redevelopment Agency in 2015, Seibert has been the museum’s biggest donor, contributing more than $300,000 over the years.
He’s also responsible for a lot of the collection, including an 1810 Hand Pumper that Seibert bought on the East Coast, as well as other vehicles and his original uniform from the 1950s — which dresses a mannequin in the station office where Seibert deciphered a coded ticker-tape bringing in messages from fire call boxes around San Jose. “Sam became interested in history, and in 1959, he was guru of the department for history and saving things,” McMillan said. He’s got so many things he’s saved and given to us.”
McMillan said he hopes to get the museum fully open to the public at least a couple of days a week this fall. The entire building has been abated of asbestos and other hazardous materials and the ground floor has been restored and fitted with exhibits including a firepole that kids can slide down a few feet. The collection includes a 1931 Mack Type 19 pumping engine, a 1914 Knox Martin steam engine and a fully restored 1890 Amoskeag steam engine, which helped save San Jose following the 1906 earthquake. You can learn more about the museum at www.sjfiremuseum.org.
It is quite a legacy for Seibert, who is considered the founder emeritus of the San Jose Fire Museum, and was celebrated on his birthday from fire chiefs from around the Bay Area — many of whom had careers in San Jose — as well as elected officials. Supervisor Cindy Chavez presented him with a commendation from the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, and he received another in recognition of his birthday Tuesday from the San Jose City Council. The San Jose Fire Museum honored him with its Lifetime Volunteer Award for his 50 years of working to preserve the department’s heritage, a gesture that made Seibert choke up with emotion.
Councilman Raul Peralez, who was at the celebration with colleagues Dev Davis and Johnny Khamis, said any 100th birthday is special but he was proud to be there to honor someone who has continued to give back to the city after his retirement.
“To be celebrating his 100th birthday today in this museum — a place that he’s helped to open back up to the entire community to tell the story of our San Jose firefighters and department — couldn’t be more fitting,” Peralez said.
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