VIDEO/PHOTOS: A 102-year-old Orange County woman met her mechanical match – a fully restored fire engine that’s just as old as she is. Lois Rufer, 102-and-a-half by her count, took a ceremonial ride aboard Huntington Beach’s first motorized fire truck — a 1922 Seagrave — on Thursday after her family arranged the visit with the fire department. The two centenarians shared a spin around the Central Net Training Facility in what firefighters called a rare and joyful meeting of living history.
“They wanted to know if I’d be able to ride in it, and I said, ‘I thought I’d be driving it,’” Rufer joked, according to the Orange County Register. Though she didn’t take the wheel, she rang the engine’s bell and used the hand-crank horn from one of its two seats, beaming as the fire engine circled the lot.
Rufer learned about the vintage vehicle from a Register article and mentioned it to her family, who helped make the meeting happen. She’s known in her Fountain Valley community for her humor and independence — she bowled in a league for decades and kept a valid driver’s license until just last year. The 1922 Seagrave, once the pride of Huntington Beach’s early fire service, was purchased for $14,500 — a hefty sum at the time, but far below the $1.3 million it costs for modern engines today. According to city officials, the Seagrave was one of the first motorized fire apparatuses the city ever bought, marking its transition from horse-drawn rigs.
