Joel Dinda's photos with the keyword: kalamazoo fire department

KFD Engine 5 was different . The paint job was your first clue; this truck was painted white, with red trim. That word, RESCUE, on the door was another clue. 5 was a traditional pumper in most ways, but it was equipped to handle auto accidents and other unusual situations; this included carrying the sorts of paramedic supplies which modern fire departments put into ambulances. Of course, in the '50s there were no true paramedics on the Kalamazoo Fire Department. This is my favorite of Dad's Martin Sernstinger photographs. It shows engine 5 in some sort of training exercise, pumping water out of a pond--and right back into the pond. Marty obviously enlisted the department's hook and ladder to make a high perch. The snow's a neat touch, too. Eventually you're going to need to fight a fire in a blizzard....

Here we have the vehicle the City of Kalamazoo purchased for the use of the Assistant Fire Chief in the mid-1950s. I'm sure there's a reason the Assistant Chief needed a station wagon, but I'm not sure what that reason was. Looks like it's parked on the drive (parking slab) in front of some station. Ah: But what station? A mystery. Still another Martin Sernstinger photo from 1955 or so.

Dad, posed with a feather duster(!) for Martin Sernstinger on KFD Engine 4, inside the old Central Fire Station in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Approximately 1955. Dad was a firefighter for most of the 1950s, then moved to another career. In a real sense, though, he was a firefighter for the rest of his life. His firefighter friends certainly treated him as one of the group, and several showed up for his funeral.

Engine 4 , again; this time at home in front of Kalamazoo's old Central Fire Station. Photo by Martin Sernstinger, approximately 1955. The brickwork, on both buildings, came out rather nicely in this photo.

Kalamazoo Fire Department Engine 4, set up to suck water from a pond. One of the other photographs in this series will show another engine actually pumping from that pond. Given the weather, it couldn't have been a fun day--but it does look neat. No idea where this was taken, but it's clearly not the fairgrounds; the fairgrounds are in the floodplain and extremely flat. Those big houses in the background are kind of interesting. That thing in the foreground is part of another fire engine; photographer Martin Sernstinger would use that truck's tall ladder to get a different angle in that other photo i mentioned. 1955 or thereabouts. ========== This photo was Explored! #375 on September 11, 2013 ------------- Rudolph J. Sterk STERK, Rudolph J. Sterk Age 82 Mission, TX Died January 4, 2006 at Mission Regional Medical Center. He was born March 6, 1923 to the late Carl and Anna (Seitz) Sterk. He is survived by his son, Paul (Leann) Sterk of Rapid City, South Dakota; daughter, Jane Gordon of Ann Arbor, Michigan; sister, Helen Larson of Murdock, Minneapolis; grandchildren, David and Daniel Sterk, Stuart Gordon, Cara Gordon, and James Cameron; and long time companion, Mary E. Walker of Mission. He was preceded in death by his wife Alice, parents, 3 brothers and a sister. He was a fireman in Kalamazoo, Michigan for 30 years and a devoted father and grandfather. Memorial donations may be made to a favorite charity. No services will be held. Services are under the direction of Ric Brown Family Funeral Home, Mission, TX. Emphasis added; copied from MLive.com. Preacher Debra sent me the link a couple days ago. Blessings, old friend. Rudy was a good guy. My prayers are with you, Paul; if you see this, drop me a line. ==================== Edit 3/24/07: Brian Stone's (another firefighter kid) just posted a picture of Rudy .

Another view of Kalamazoo Fire Department's Engine 9, still parked in front of old Station 4. Fours has been restored; there's a picture in my brother's Flickr stream . When I was a kid, I knew a lot about these engines; what they were designed to do, and how they differed in detail. I'm afraid that's all gone.... Photo taken around 1955 by Martin Sernstinger.

Explored! #369 on Friday, February 1, 2008. Thanks! Kalamazoo Fire Department's Engine 9. It's parked in front of the old North Burdick Station , called Fours by the firefighters. 1955 or thereabouts. While Dad was with the department, they replaced a substantial number of trucks with these larger, more impressive Seagrave units. I suspect that's what Martin Sernstinger was actually documenting with many of these photographs.

Kalamazoo Fire Department, circa 1955. No idea whose house that was, nor where. Clearly not a fire station, though. Continuing my series of Martin Sernstinger photographs, inherited from my father, who was a Kalamazoo firefighter for much of the 1950s.

Kalamazoo Fire Department's Engine 9, as photographed by Martin Sernstinger at the Kalamazoo Fairgrounds in (roughly) 1955. Eventually KFD would move their training exercises to a specialized facility off King Highway, but these photographs predate that. Unfortunately, Dad didn't leave me any training-exercise photos half as dramatic as Alessandro Cani's . But Marty's pictures are, nonetheless, excellent. Don't recall who the handsome dude is. Partly that's because I was six in 1955, but mostly it's because it's been fifty years.

Another Martin Sernstinger photo of my father, Roger Dinda, in Engine 16 of the Kalamazoo Fire Department. This time Dad's actually driving it. 1955 or thereabouts. That's the Kalamazoo State Theater in the background. Still standing; just as wonderful today as it was new, in the late 20s. It's grown kinda raggedy, though.

Another Martin Sernstinger photo from around 1955. Kalamazoo Fire Department's engine 8 sits in front of Station 3 on a sunny afternoon. Threes was the prettiest of the Kalamazoo fire stations; it was located on Charlotte close to Roosevelt School, and was on my normal route to class. Since Dad was a firefighter at the time, though not normally stationed here, I'd greet the guys as I passed by. Threes had repair facilities for large trucks, so it was an interesting place for a youngster to visit. Mom tended to discourage me from doing so....

My father, Roger Dinda, newly promoted to Driver, and Kalamazoo Fire Department's truck 16, in 1955 or thereabouts. This was taken in front of Old Station 1, the Central Station at the time. 'Twas called "Ones" or "Central," as we discussed in the comments to one of my brothers' pix. The station's been gone since the sixties. Another Martin Sernstinger photo. I have a bunch of these, and have created a special set for 'em.

Some of the fire engine photographs in my father's collection were of trucks which were old when Martin Sernstinger caught them on film in the mid-1950s. This one was clearly taken during a training exercise at the Kalamazoo County Fairgrounds.