In 2017 the Presque Isle Fire Department started a collaboration with the Presque Isle Historical Society to restore our old Engine #3, a 1954 American LaFrance fire engine. The truck was ordered in 1952 to serve Presque Isle Fire Department. This unit offered 500 gallon water tank with a 1000 gallon per minute pump and offered winterized pumping technology that allowed the engine operator to keep water from freezing by using the antifreeze from the engine cooling system to heat the pump area.

Engine #3 served the City of Presque Isle until 1977 when it was Donated to Northern Maine Vocational Technology Institute (now Northern Maine Community College) as a tool to be used with the Fire Science Program that was being developed at the school through the Maine Fire Science Institute. The collision repair program at the college, under the direction of Dave Gurrette, restored and re-lettered the truck for the college. After the fire science program was pulled from the curriculum the truck was sitting outside. When the PIFD found out a group of firefighters approached the college and stored the truck inside a building at the industrial park until 2005 when the truck was moved to the old fire station for storage under the care of the Presque Isle Historical Society.

The efforts of the Presque Isle Fire Department have so far restored the radiator and purchased items essential for an engine tune up and oil change. The goal we have set for 2019 is to get the truck running and able to move and be in various parades this summer. The long-term goal we have set for this project is to get the truck back to a parade shine and ready to be driven to any occasion. With this long-term goal in mind several repairs need to be made to bring the truck back to a parade ready condition.