In 1969, Jim acquired a 1942 Ahrens Fox Piston Pumper originally from Harrison, New Jersey model #HT3457 and restored that also. Jim bought the truck for $500 and restored it with the help of family and friends and put it in local parades. It was in real bad shape but it still had the word “Baldwin” painted in big letters on the hood. Jim found out that it was the same truck that he had ridden on and driven when he was in the Baldwin Fire Department. In 1968, a customer came into the deli and said he had just purchased an old fire truck that had been used on Fire Island for several years. Years later in 1961, Jim Verni joined the Brookhaven Volunteer Fire Department. Jim and Mary Verni moved to Brookhaven, New York and opened up another delicatessen in 1957 after selling the one in Baldwin. At this time he could no longer volunteer at the Baldwin Fire Department.

He was later married to his wife Mary and purchased a delicatessen on Hastings Street in Baldwin. At that time, one of the fire trucks housed at Hose 2 was a 1929 American LaFrance type 92 which he responded to and sometimes drove to alarms. Jim is originally from Baldwin, New York, where he was a member of Hose 2 of the Baldwin Fire Department in 1950. The Shady Grove Antique Fire Department was started in 1968 by Jim Verni of Brookhaven, Long Island, New York.

I recently received this email on a local Brookhaven Hamlet institution which I would like to share.

1926 american lafrance fire truck