At 57 years old, Miss Belle is in fairly good condition, considering she’s spent the past decade living outside. She still has all her old parts, but Bellevue Fire Lt. Rich Burke says it will take more work still before she’s moving on her own.

“I got a phone call about it, that they were considering scrapping it,” Burke said of the 1957 Maxim Pumper truck that had been a part of the Bellevue Fire Department’s fleet until its retirement in the early ’70s. “I’ve accounted for 10 years of its life, but I don’t know what happened in the middle.”

The pump truck was named Miss Belle by its former owners, who ran a fire sprinkler company and found the vehicle during a job. It had spent the past 10 years near Custer, Wash. Burke said it was luck the owners never accepted offers to sell off parts of Miss Belle. The fire department picked her up for $3,500 – about $19,000 less than Miss Belle was worth when first purchased.

“She’s pretty rough, I’ll be honest with you,” Burke said of the truck, one of the originals to first serve King County Fire District No. 14 and then the BFD. “It would just be a shame to see it go away.”

The former site of the Fire District No. 14 station was torn down in May at 102nd Avenue Northeast and Northeast First Place for new construction.

The truck will be available for viewing in its current state at Fire Station No. 3 during Saturday’s BFD open house, having been pressure washed and cleared of wildlife. But the goal is full restoration, said Burke, which is estimated to cost between $40,000 and $60,000.

“It’s owned by the community. It’s a piece of our history, and we want to share that with them,” he said, “and, unfortunately, it will cost money to do it.”

Burke was able to get the design specifications for the rig from the manufacturer, which is still in business today, as is the company that produced Ms. Bell’s engine. Families of former Bellevue firefighters are also sending the department old vehicle manuals for the pump truck, he said.

Miss Belle will move to the city’s public safety training center following Saturday’s open house, at which point Burke said the department will begin strategizing how to raise funds to complete Miss Belle’s restoration. Burke said once restored, Miss Belle will be showcased at community events and a history lesson in motion at Bellevue schools.

The city’s arts commission is also looking into whether the pumper truck can be classified as a large historical artifact, which would open up grant opportunities for the restoration project.

“You’ve got to know where you came from,” he said, “where you started.”

• Saturday’s open house runs 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at all nine Bellevue fire stations. Station No. 3 is at 16100 N.E. Eighth St.