Story Tools

Email this story | Print this story

Indexes

Today's Stories

Last 7 Days

Top Blogs

• The history of Pearl Harbor endures; veterans who experienced it scarce

• Teen builds 40-foot-tall Christmas display in Lodi

• Man loses control; hits two houses, trees

• Public Meetings

February 9th, 2010

• Middle College High School rated one of the best — and a bargain, to boot

• Lodi decathlon boasts top team in county

• Man who sparked counterfeit case pleads guilty

• Local businessman will visit Haiti to look for family

• Man who claimed to be Yosemite Sam pleads guilty to meth charge

• David Harmer seeks Republican congressional nod

• Lack of evidence in case against suspect in 'drug deal' stabbing

• Regional Roundup

February 8th, 2010

• Public Meetings

• Locals pick best, most memorable Super Bowl commercials

• Regional Roundup

February 6th, 2010

• The Home Depot hopes to join Costco at Reynolds Ranch

• Meet Larry, Curly and Moe

• Baboon business

• Regional Roundup

• Several Lodi venues let you watch the Super Bowl in style

• Lodi Library celebrates 100 years of serving the community

• Culinary craft

February 5th, 2010

• Kids, teachers help Haiti by collecting pennies for Learning Link

• Lodi, Galt students reach out to help Haiti earthquake survivors

• Tasered suspect claims he is Yosemite Sam

• Hours of sweat and work go into putting on crab feeds

• Things looking up for state's real estate

• Correction

• Regional Roundup

• Stray bullet strikes Lodi home; police suspect gang activity may be factor

February 4th, 2010

• Managers at Geweke Toyota answer questions about recall

• Lodi City Council votes to replace play structure at Century Park

• Lodi extends ban on pot shops for another year

• Mokelumne River triathlon set for June

• Family, friends to run half-marathon in memory of Galt family

February 3rd, 2010

• Correction

• Delta College trustees again collide over stipend committee

• Bad bugs, weeds are hot topics at Grape Day

• Lodi-area senators Dave Cox, Lois Wolk admit to gifts; Tom Berryhill case pending

• Lodi Unified School District president issues warning to speakers over cuts

• Galt City Council avoids budget cuts — for now

• New Lodi Memorial Hospital emergency room opens to the public without a hitch

• Regional Roundup

February 2nd, 2010

• Local business leaders say tourism, Costco, Home Depot may play roles in city's future

• Correction

• Former Lodian Erica Davis is first paraplegic woman to summit Kilimanjaro

• Regional Roundup

• No snow leopards, otters for Micke Grove

• McNerney leads in campaign cash

• Police: Train victim was a Lodi teen

• Big rig plows 7 cars

• Jumpers across California

The following stories have received the most reader comments during the last 7 days.

• Will terrorists be given Miranda warnings? (75)
• Lodi Unified School District president issues warning to speakers over cuts (64)
• President Obama's first year (45)
• Many reject the politics of 'no' (45)
• Islamic symbol in mosaic — what is all the fuss? (44)
• Writer comments on Neely column (42)
• The Home Depot hopes to join Costco at Reynolds Ranch (41)
• Time to shed the convenient sham of 'Don't ask, don't tell' policy (34)
• We need to conduct respectful conversations (30)
• Tasered suspect claims he is Yosemite Sam (25)

ADVERTISEMENT

Christmas joy spreads through Lodi with Santa truck

Every Christmas season, Lodi firefighters pull the old red fire engine from the mothballs of storage and begin preparing it to be called simply the "Santa Truck." You're probably doing the same in hauling out the lights and yard decorations, but few can claim they put this much into holiday decorating.

We asked Santa Truck coordinator/engineer Michael Alegre about what goes into preparing the truck each year. In addition to traveling through local neighborhoods, it made an appearance at last week's Parade of Lights in Downtown Lodi carrying the honored guest, Santa Claus.

First off, where did the engine come from? It's not one of the ones used to fight fires currently, is it?

The Santa program started in 1986 when the department decided to retire out the snorkel fire truck, which is a 1967 GMC High Ranger Snorkel Truck. It was actually used in Lodi as our primary fire truck from 1967 to 1986. The snorkel was used to fight some of Lodi's biggest fires, from the Stubbs Building fire, the Elm Street Hotel Fire, the Pine and Main Street office building fire, and numerous warehouse and packing shed fires on Main Street during the 1960s and 1970s.

How did the idea of taking Santa through the streets of Lodi atop a fire engine come about?

When the truck was placed into reserve status in 1986, Jim Inman, Jack Gerlack, Sandy Wichman and Mike Lair (all Lodi firefighters at the time) decided to start our Santa program after seeing a similar type program in another city. These four firefighters took it upon themselves to spearhead the development of our Santa program.

These individuals, along with the Fire Department, wanted to do something special for the community, to give back and spread some Christmas joy to the citizens of Lodi. They spent countless hours decorating the truck with lights, wiring up the sound system and making signs, reindeer and Santa's sleigh out of wood from their garages. These individuals spent a lot of their free time getting all this put together. Many invested their own money to purchase lights, music and decorations. The fire department itself and the Lodi Professional Firefighters Union also contributed money to get the program up and running.

When the program first started, we took the Santa Truck throughout the city and down random streets, and it was pretty low-key. Today, the program has become bigger and busier then ever expected. We receive numerous calls to our administration office requesting Santa to come down their street. The Santa truck brings to some children the only Santa Claus and Christmas they'll see that year.

But it's not all about seeing Santa, is it?

No, we also collect canned food and toys along our routes to give to families in need. We also hand out fire prevention fliers.

How early in the year does decorating begin?

We leave everything up now, but when it was a reserve rig it would have to be redecorated all the time in case the (fire) truck needed to be used. Now, we start in September checking and replacing burned-out lights, and getting the maintenance done on the generator.

Tell me about the stereo system that plays carols. If you're outside your house, you can hear the truck coming from blocks away.

There're four all-weather 12-inch speakers. We power everything like the lights and stereo with a 5,000-watt Honda generator. We have a regular car stereo deck that plays the music and have slowly added onto it through the years to keep it updated.

What's Santa have to say about his special truck?

Santa looks forward to it every year. This is where he gets his early start in seeing the boys and girls before his big night.