M-715 Oral History
Howdy all, I haven't been on here for some time. I haven't had too much time or interest for my trucks in a while for various reasons. I had an experience last weekend that I thought was pretty cool though.
I live in a small town in Texas, Caldwell, population about 4K. I have three M-715: one original truck I've owned and been building for 23 years, two that I bought from a local VFD several years ago. Of those two, one was easily fixed and my son drove it to high school and it has been to several MV events, the other is a parts truck that has been mostly dismantled.
Last weekend, my father in law among others was being honored at the local Masonic lodge for his 50 years as a Mason. The ceremony was open to friends and family so my wife, daughter, and I attended. I was particularly impressed as there were members being honored for 55, 60, and even 70 years as Masons. We have lived in Caldwell for 15 years, my wife grew up here as did my kids. I have always commuted and worked in the nearby larger cities, so I comparatively don't know anyone here.
One of the Masons was a former local Constable and I knew of him but didn't know him personally. My wife introduced him to me, evidently he had heard that I owned the two fire trucks. He turned out to have the history that many of us have speculated about regarding the "Texas Spec" M-715s. He asked about my truck and mentioned that there was another and was pleased to learn that I had both of them. The story according to him is this: In the late '70s, the Texas Forest Service had a large supply of M-715s they had received from DoD. They had identified 1400 communities in Texas that were large enough to justify having a Fire Department but did not currently have one. They arranged to make fire trucks out of the M-715s. They sent them to the Texas Department of Corrections where they had hard tops fabricated and installed and where they were painted white. They were then sent to a vendor in West, TX where slide-in fire pump units and emergency lights were installed. They were to be given to rural fire departments for $3500, essentially the cost of the pump equipment from the outside vendor. The idea was that communities would organize fire departments if they could get affordable apparatus. The concept worked, and a list was made where communities applied for the trucks. As trucks were completed, they were distributed first-come first-served on the list. Deanville Texas (current population 50 plus surrounding area) had decided to organize a fire department and had applied for a truck. The Forest Service contacted them that their truck was ready before they had raised the $3500 however rather than lose their place in line, they scrambled to raise the money and were successful. They took delivery of their truck in 1978, with Caldwell also receiving one around the same time. Both trucks served their respective departments, and both of them eventually went to the nearby Chriesmann Fire Department and finally to the Cade Lake Fire Department from whom I purchased them.
I'm glad to get confirmation of how all of these fire trucks came to be as we've long suspected. I'm even more blown away to know the history of my specific trucks from 35 years ago. The gentleman I spoke to says he has a photo of the members of the new department with the truck when it was delivered. I hope to get a copy of if from him and I'll post it here if I ever do. Now I know how they came to be and specifically where my trucks came from.
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Originally Posted by kwai
