Council Dedicates 1931 Seagrave Fire Engine to Retired Captain Eugene D’Isabella
The unanimous Tuesday vote names the city’s first fire apparatus for the 94-year-old captain who drove it in at least 50 parades, as the engine’s long restoration moves toward the centennial year.
The Laguna Beach City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday night to dedicate the city's 1931 Seagrave fire engine to retired fire captain Eugene D'Isabella, the 94-year-old former Marine known around the department as Diz.
Residents packed the council meeting in support of D'Isabella, and a series of tributes preceded the vote. D'Isabella told the room the engine has been a big part of his life, noting that he drove it in at least 50 parades and brought it to the department's pancake breakfasts and to the Fire Station No. 2 Christmas party so children could sit on it and take pictures. His remarks drew a standing ovation. "It's been a big part of my life," he said.
D'Isabella joined the fire department in 1956 after serving in the Marine Corps, began his full-time career as an engineer in 1964, and went on to serve under eight fire chiefs over 38 years with the city, according to the Daily Pilot's account of the meeting.
The Seagrave was the first fire apparatus the city ever purchased. The Laguna Beach Firefighters Association says the city bought its first commercially built fire engine from Seagrave Fire Apparatus in Columbus, Ohio, in 1931, designed for the town's hilly terrain, and that the engine served until 1950, when it went into reserve status. The city identified the model as a Seagrave Suburbanite in a 2019 department history, and a city file photo caption notes the engine cost $7,500 when new. In its later ceremonial life the engine appeared at Hospitality Night and the Patriots Day Parade, carried Santa Claus during the holidays, and visited the South Laguna Community Garden Park in 2012.
Retired fire captain Harvey Boelts, who joined the department in 1968, thanked the council for keeping the historic engine and for dedicating it to a colleague who, he said, really loved it. Boelts recalled that the Seagrave was in service as almost a reserve engine when he arrived, and that no firefighter on the department took more interest in it than D'Isabella.
The dedication arrives as the engine's long restoration nears its final phase. The Seagrave has been out of service since 2013, according to former council member George Weiss, who sponsored the restoration funding, and a 2024 city report says the engine had fallen into disrepair by then. In 2024 the council approved $150,000 for the restoration, and on August 13, 2024 it authorized a service agreement with Douglas and Company of Costa Mesa to rebuild the engine and drivetrain. Deputy Fire Chief Andrew Hill told the Daily Pilot that about 60 donors have contributed through the Laguna Beach Firefighters Community Assistance Fund, and a staff report names the Laguna Beach Firefighters' Association, residents of Irvine Cove, the Click Family Foundation, the Quilter family and Anita May among the notable donors. In June, the Orange County Register reported that a $40,000 donation from resident Anita Rosenstein was the largest single gift the project had received to that point, toward an expected restoration cost of $250,000.
Hill said the restoration's mechanical work is done: the original motor, transmission and brakes have been rebuilt at Douglas and Company, the Costa Mesa shop run by John Bothwell. The work has moved to the cosmetic phase, tearing the engine down to repaint the frame and body and rebuilding the gauges back to original condition.
City officials hope the restoration will be complete in time for the Patriots Day Parade in March, the Daily Pilot reported, and Hill expects the frame off work to be finished before the city's centennial celebration. Weiss, writing after Tuesday's meeting, put the expected finish for the full restoration, body included, in early 2027, and said the engine is on track to lead the city's 100th birthday celebration in June 2027, this time carrying D'Isabella's name.
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