Slaying the Dragon

Edison Chan has been checking on his CB radio for hours. He’s switching from one frequency to another, waiting for an "alarma" or a signal from any of the fire brigades in Metro Manila announcing a fire. He knew by experience that the most quiet days are often the most devastating. But so far his paranoia seemed baseless; he was getting nothing but buzzing sounds from the radio, hence he just busied himself with the cleaning of his fire truck.

Edison is one of the regulars of the San Juan Volunteer Fire Brigade. At 29, he had seen almost all kinds of fiery disasters-from shanties burning like matches to skyscrapers turning into towering infernos. His father, Eddie Chan, is also a volunteer fireman and head of the San Juan brigade. Edison joined him in 1991 after he personally witnesses the family business consumed completely by fire.

He gets a unique kind of thrill from what he does. One would quickly surmise that it’s probably the danger, the adventure, and the rea-life action and drama which firefighting offers that attracted him to the job. But it’s far less than that. For Edison, it’s the fire truck. The mere fact that he’s driving one is enough motivation for him to work as a volunteer.

"I love big trucks," he says. "I’ve been driving fire trucks since I was 19 and I love how they move, how they respond to a fire scene. The high they give me is really different."

Early this year, Edison, with Christopher Ah, another volunteer fireman from the East Binondo Brigade, put up Code 3 Bodyworks along Don Manuel street right next to the car shops at Banaue, Quezon City. Not exactly the typical auto shop, Code 3 specializes in rebuilding junk fire trucks and repairing damaged ones. Since it opened, it has rebuilt at least three trucks, most of them already in advanced stage of decay, and is in the process of rebuilding more.

Code 3 stemmed mainly from the volunteers’ need for fire trucks. "Brand-new fire trucks are very expensive and we, the volunteers, can never afford them," Edison said. "That is why we just buy junk ones or accept those donated to us by other groups and simply repair or rebuild them."

The smallest brand of new fire truck in the market today can reach up to P8 million, depending on the peso-dollar exchange. But Code 3 has rebuilt trucks for about a tenth of that price. One of these trucks, a 1978 model with a Fuso head and a 1,000-gallon tank, was spotted by Edison and Christopher at a junk yard in Malabon. They bought it for P180,000, got donations for another P500,000 which they used to bring the truck back to life, looking as fresh as when it just rolled off the factory. It was even better since it now sports a chromed turret for shooting water.

Edison’s love for trucks is complimented by his partner’s flare for design. A fanatic of four-wheel-drives, Christopher believes vehicles should carry the signature of their makers or remakers and in the case of fire trucks, they should possess certain designs that should set them apart from other trucks in a fire scene.

Christopher’s design ideas were backed by the chief of the East Binondo Brigade. Gerry Chua, a businessman known for his Eng Bee Tin hopia (mooncakes), is the principal sustainer of the Binondo volunteers. He already bought four used fire trucks which he had repainted purple, a color he considered lucky since it was the color of the hopia ube that made his business boom.

Gerry allowed Code 3 to improve the look of his trucks. And Christopher seized the opportunity by adorning the trucks with stickers which appeared like flames engulfing the trucks on its sides. He got artists to design decals like "Hands For Rescue" on the trucks, giving the vehicles the look of hotrods.

Code 3’s hottest job, however, was the used pumper which Gerry also bought and repainted purple. It was a 1983 Nissan Patrol with a Morita pump at the rear. It doesn’t have a tank and its main function is to pump water from other tanks or fire hydrants. Gerry gave Code 3 a free hand to work on it. "Go on," he told Edison and Christopher. "Toy with it. Do what you want. Just be sure it comes out nicely."

Being the four-wheeler expert, Christopher got help from the 199 Off-Road House in giving the pumper a meaner look. They raised the body by four inches, put on 33" off-road tires, installed foglamps on the roof, put on a snorkler, chromed the engine, had the seats upholstered in leather, set up the audio and communication systems, and called in an airbrush artist to paint a mural of a dragon being extinguished by a lone fireman on the sides and the hood. The result was a certified headturner. The vehicle won three major prizes in the Customs Cars and Sport Trucks Show at the SM Megamall last month.

With its rare and truly striking look, the Binondo volunteers’ purple pumper often emerges as the star of each fire scene. Christopher is not completely pleased, though. "The problem with this beauty is you get afraid whenever you take it to a fire scene," he said. "It’s too beautiful that we’d really feel bad if it gets damaged. But then it’s made for the action so we still take it with us in fighting fires."

Christopher heard someone bark through the CB radio. "Alarma! Alarma sa Pandacan!" (Alarm! Alarm in Pandacan!) a man shouted.. He switched on the pumper and sped off. Edison was right, it wasn’t a completely quiet Sunday after all.A dragon has again reared its ugly head and is blowing his fiery nostrils somewhere.