Rescue 11
 A privately owned Museum and Exhibition Vehicle

Rescue 11 is an example of a type of vehicle used by the County of Los Angeles Fire Department in the 1940's and 50's. Staffed by two firefighters, rescue squads were used to assist fire engine crews on structure fires and to rescue people who were trapped in burning or collapsed buildings, wrecked cars, construction cave-ins, etc. These rescue squads were strategically locatd in the territory covered by four or five nearby fire stations.

Rescue 11 was never used as an ambulance but provided medical first-aid to sick and injusred people as a first-response unit. At the time, CPR and portable defibrillators had not been invented, and there were no civilian paramedics. The mergency phone number (911) was just a dream and it would be years before "Emergency!" and "Rescue 911" appeared on TV.

Restoration

Restoration (construction) of Rescue 11 began in 1991. It was completed in 1995. The project was conceived and financed by Jim Page, a retired fire chief who is now the publisher of Fire-Rescue Magazine.  In the 1950's, as a new firefighter, Jim was assigned to Rescue 11 in Altadena, near Pasadena.

"She was a '47 Ford, overloaded with equipment and powered by a little flathead V-8," he recalls. "The six-volt electrical system couldn't handle lights and the siren at the same time. But I loved that rig and, between calls, I waxed the paint and cleaned the equipment till she was spotless. I remember, a few days aver I was assigned to Rescue 11, a woman with acute asthma died as I tried to help her breathe; it was the fire time I'd seen anybody die. A week later we poulled a 2-year-old boy from the bottom of a swimming pool and got him to breathe on his own. Also, that year, I learned the meaning of teamwork when my partner dragged me from beneath a collapsed ceiling in a burning building.

A symbolic hobby car

"You might say I grew up while working on Rescue 11," Jim Page recalls. "But after several transfers and promotions I pretty much forgot about that old Ford, - until I started looking for a hobby car. "That's it!" I thought. "I'll  find Rescue 11 and restore her; it'll be just like old times." After a few phone calls, I learned that she'd been sold at auction many years ago. The next choice was to find another '47 Ford half-ton panel truck and create a replica (or reincarnation) of the vehicle that helped me become an adult.

The reincarnation

Lacking the time and talent to do the job himself, Jim visited Randy Clark at Hot Rods and Custom Stuff in Escondido. His shopping list included a late model 351 cubic inch Ford "Cleveland" engine, a C-6 Ford automatic trans, independent front suspension, power steering and power brakes, air conditioning and stereo sound. But the exterior had to look opriginal, including warning lights and goldleaf leterring. Four years later, a "reborn" Rescue 11 rolled out of Randy's shop.