Distinguished Community Service Organization

The Mills One fire engine is a 1932 Ford fire truck, originally owned and put into service by the Mills Fire Department when the area around Folsom Boulevard and Mather Field Road was known as Mills, not Rancho Cordova.

Purchased by the original Mills One Fire District in the 1930s, the engine remained in service until the early 1950s. It was then sold to a farmer on White Rock Road and was used as a farm fire truck and spraying apparatus for the farmer’s wheat field.

In the early 1960s, Roland Federspeil, owner of the land under the massive Cordova Vineyards, and developer of Rancho Cordova’s first housing subdivision, built the new town of Rancho Cordova’s first fire station. He later sold the fire station to the Rancho Cordova Fire Department for $1 and donated money to buy back the Mills One engine and restore it to its original condition.

Work on the engine was performed by inmates at Folsom Prison. And with the help of members of the Rancho Cordova Fire Department, the engine restoration was completed. The Mills One engine became the property of the Rancho Cordova Firefighters Association.

Over the years, the Rancho Cordova Fire Department merged to eventually become part of the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District. The Rancho Cordova Firefighters Association became the Mills One Club. The members retired from the fire service, and many have passed on. As a result, membership has slowly dwindled. But the Mills One Club still meets occasionally at the Mills Station Building and continues to care for the old fire engine.

In a loving effort which reminds young and old of local history, the Mills One Club faithfully brings out this masterpiece for important Rancho Cordova occasions.

The Mills One Club is always there to lead the parade on the Fourth of July, carrying the Grand Marshal – a prestigious job filled by the reigning Rancho Cordovan of the Year. On the night the Community Christmas Tree is lit, Santa Claus himself has arrived in style aboard – you guessed it – the 89-year old Mills One fire engine, with the Mills One Club at the wheel. Whenever there is an important community celebration, Mills One is never far away.

Mills One currently lives at Station 61 on Folsom Boulevard, under the watchful eye of Mills One Club members -- remarkable men who served as firefighters in our community many years ago and continue to serve by caring for and showcasing this extraordinary piece of our history. 

The ranks of the Mills One Club continue to thin with the passage of time, and it far past due to pause the thank them for brave service all those years ago when they fought flames as the Rancho Cordova Fire Department. Equally important is the continued service that dates back 60 years in preserving the Mills One fire engine -- a Rancho Cordova treasure.  

Thank you, Mills One Club! You are a most Distinguished Community Service Organization. And your fire engine, well, it rocks!