Vintage Elyria firetruck featured in Cleveland St. Patrick's Day Parade

CLEVELAND — Thousands cheered on a piece of Elyria history on Monday, as a ladder truck used by the Elyria Fire Department for nearly 50 years was featured in the Cleveland St. Patrick's Day Parade. It was the first time since 1983 that the fire truck was featured in a parade. When the truck appeared in that parade — celebrating Elyria's 150th anniversary — it was driven by Joe Pronesti, who was joined on the truck by his son and namesake, current Fire Chief Joe Pronesti, who was 13 at the time. More than 40 years later, the younger Pronesti pushed the city to donate the truck to the Western Reserve Fire Buffs Association, which decided to feature the truck in the St. Patrick's Day Parade this week. The firetruck was produced by the American LaFrance (ALF) company in 1938 and is a tiller truck, meaning that its ladders are held on a long trailer that is semi-permanently attached to the rear of the truck and requires a second driver to control the rear wheels. Western Reserve Fire Buffs Association President Kenny Rybka drove the tiller during the parade on Monday, and around a dozen current and former Elyria firefighters, along with some of their spouses, rode on the truck and waved to the crowds. Rybka said that he was thrilled with how the truck ran and how the crowd responded to it. "I'll tell you what, considering the truck's 87 years old, it ran great," he said. "Uh, you know, there's a couple little things we need to tweak on it, but I was very happy with the performance … boy, I tell you, the people, especially the kids, their faces lit up." Rybka said that the old Elyria firetruck was one of only four ALF tiller trucks built in 1938, the first year that the company switched its main hydraulic ladders from wooden to steel. Elyria's truck was also the only one with an 85-foot main ladder — the other three trucks all had 100-foot ladders. "Elyria had the first 85-foot steel ladder made by American LaFrance," Rybka said. "The other three (with) hundred-foot ladders are long gone, probably long scrapped. So this is the last truck anywhere from that original model year where they switched from wood to steel aerial ladders." That makes the truck not just a crucial piece of Elyria fire history, Rybka said, but the history of firefighting in general. While the main hydraulic ladder is metal, Pronesti said the truck also has its original portable wooden ladders, a testament to the care his predecessors took with the crown jewel of their fire fleet. "My father used to moan and groan when he would tell me old stories about how every year they would get those ladders out and sand them and put another coat of varnish on them," Pronesti told the Chronicle on Friday. "Really all those years of taking care of those ladders, you think about now when you see them, (because) they are perfect." Pronesti said that the truck saw front-line use with the department from its purchase in 1938 through 1971, and it remained in use on reserve status for a further nine years after that. After its service life ended, Elyria's ALF truck was used in a few parades but went fully into storage after 1983 after the 150th anniversary. It would stay in storage until it was shoved back into the limelight this week. Despite the truck's retirement, Pronesti said that members of the department still worked to maintain it and were always able to find somewhere indoors to store it, including a number of closed businesses and warehouses. Rybka said this indoor storage was the key to the truck staying in working condition even as it approaches its 90th birthday. "What I've got to give the city, the fire department and the firefighters credit for is that this truck never, ever, ever sat outside," he said. "And the only reason that we're able to use it today is because of that … the fact it always stayed inside was the only thing that saved it." Keeping the truck inside for decades was no small feat, Pronesti said, as the 53-foot truck had to be moved various times over the years and was even kept in abandoned warehouses for periods of time. Pronesti said he knew that before his retirement he wanted to find a permanent home for the LaFrance truck, which his father drove the tiller for while he was with the department, where it would be used and cared for. "The truck means so much to the history of the fire department and to me that I made it a point that before I retire, that we're gonna do something good with this ladder truck," Pronesti said prior to the parade. "I had always thought that the Western Reserve Fire Buffs Association would love to have. And for one reason or another, it never panned out until I became chief and I kind of brought it back up and pushed it a little bit." In September, Pronesti and the Fire Buffs finally saw the goal realized, when the Elyria City Council voted to donate the truck to the nonprofit association. Pronesti thanked all the members of City Council, Safety Service Director Chris Pyanowski and Mayor Kevin Brubaker for helping get the truck into the right hands. Rybka said when the truck first arrived he remarked — mostly joking, he said — that the Fire Buffs should debut their new piece in the 2025 St. Patrick's Day parade. "A few of the guys laughed at first," Rybka said, as he was giving them just six months to get an 87-year-old truck that had been off the road for nearly half as much time ready for the biggest parade of the year. But thanks to the good condition of the vehicle and a number of monetary donations, many from current and retired Elyria Firefighters, Rybka said, it was looking increasingly doable as the parade day approached. Rybka said that it wasn't until Tuesday of last week that he knew for sure that the truck would be ready, and he asked Elyria firefighters if they wanted to ride on their old ladder truck Monday. "I wanted to reserve her debut ride only for Elyria firefighters," Rybka said. "If I'd just asked 'Who wants to ride on a firetruck,' I coulda filled it, but I said no, those (Elyria) guys have been our biggest financial contributors so far. So I wanted to make sure that it was restricted to them." The Fire Buffs plan to continue to show the 1938 truck in parades and other events, and Rybka said it will forever bear its Elyria Fire Department markings. Pronesti was unable to attend the St. Patrick's Day Parade in person and while he said it was a great moment for his firefighters, the parade and exposure were never why he wanted it donated. What mattered to him most, Pronesti said, was that the truck would be cared for by people who appreciated its history, and that it will maintain its Elyria markings. "I'm glad, this was something that I definitely wanted and I feel good about it," Pronesti said. "I know that my dad and all his buddies and all my heroes that I grew up idolizing are up in heaven, you know, really happy that the truck that was the pride of the fleet and the truck that they took care of is still around and is still being taken care of." Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.