Chief Steve Lombardo was recently caught on camera receiving a huge surprise from some of the local CK residents. While Channel 12’s camera crew was there to capture the moment, the new support vehicle rolled into town. Here is how it all went down according to Kurt Larson, the ringleader of this extreme make-over.
In the words of Kurt Larson, “Chief called after purchasing a retired Game and Fish support truck. He started having trouble with the transmission in route to CK and asked for help diagnosing both the transmission and over-all worthiness of the vehicle – as he still had a few days to change his mind and get his money back. The truck, a 1995 F350 with 150k miles made it to my shop and we identified a failed transmission, but the truck seems overall sound and straight.
Chief knows he count on our support for transmissions and light-duty vehicle repairs, but this time I thought it would be nice to do something extreme. I began calling colleagues in the automotive biz and shared with them what we were trying to do… an extreme makeover for firefighting support vehicle. Without exception, once I presented the scenario, business owners agreed to do their part. The hood was bent and James from Glendale Auto Wrecking said stop by and pick one up. There were no keys for the utility box locks, so Quality Lock and Key came by, picked their way in and made duplicate sets for the whole truck. We scrutinized any and all maintenance and tune-up items and sent our wishlist to Sanderson Ford along with an explanation of what we were trying to do. David Kimmerle sent us all new factory Ford parts. We installed everything donated and rebuilt an extreme duty transmission as well as rebuilt the 4×4 transfer case. Michael and Kristi Wadsworth of Glendale MAACO Paint and Collision agreed to prep and paint the entire truck… they sought and were given free paint from Sherwin-Williams. Prior to painting our own Herb Shepard came to the shop and prep’d and applied a colored undercoating to protect vulnerable parts of the truck.
Fortunately Chief bought my stall tactics with lots of help from Justin Brammer and Karen Norman (CKFD)… explaining that some parts the truck needed were no longer made or carried by Ford, and had to be scavenged from salvage yards – which wasn’t entirely untrue. One obscure part kept us from completing the truck and was finally found in Herford, AZ at M&R Salvage. When I called and told them what we were up to – they not only GAVE us the part for free – they overnighted it too.
Chief may have been impatient around the station, but he recognized the truck had expensive needs that were being handled so he resisted the impulse to push or complain. The TRUTH is Chief was under local pressure to begin “chipping” brush that had already been cut and was piling up. Chief has NEVER been willing to use private vehicles to accomplish FD tasks.
The person I originally contacted to create logos and decals struggled to complete the project so another local, Carl Schaffer used his relationship to accomplish overnight – what had already taken nearly 2weeks and counting.
I thought the story had lots of news-worthy angles, Steve & Linda’s dedication to the town, post-Gladiator community rebound, near record-setting dry winter and coming fire season repercussions… so I invited Kevin Kennedy to chronicle the makeover and surprise reveal. Lots of people came together to spring the surprise on Chief Steve – which was caught on camera.
So the moral of the story is that when called upon, good people will pull together to accomplish significant tasks for the betterment of a community – sometimes not even their own community.”
On behalf of all the Crown King Community, thanks to everyone who helped our CKFD with this awesome makeover! We appreciate that you helped to make our town safer. A special Thank You to Kurt Larson, owner of AAMCO Transmission at 7105 N 51st Ave in Glendale and cabin owners Herb Shepard & Carl Schaffer for your generous contributions. Also, thanks to MAACO Paint & Collission at 7105 N. 51st Ave, Sanderson Ford at 6400 N 51st Ave, Quality Lock & Key at 4810 W Glendale Ave, M & R Salvage at 5131 Hereford Rd, Glendale Auto Wrecking at 5430 W Orangewood and Sherwin-Williams Paint at 729 N 57th Ave.