The fire truck was unveiled by city, fire department and library officials on Apr. 3, 2004 after the individual components - some weighing hundreds of pounds - were pieced together on site. Barricades went up several days in advance while the assembly took place. Only a handful of people were given access. "We wanted to keep it top secret," Livesey said.

When the truck was revealed, the crowd was awe-struck by its realism. Master carpenter and Surrey firefighter Rick Olsen had spent many long hours over a three-month period designing and building the project. He painstakingly replicated the smallest details out of durable MDF (medium-density fibreboard) - right down to the ‘Firestone' wording on the tires.

"Everything's made out of wood," said Olsen, 33. "The only thing that's real is the actual hose and the nozzle, the lights and the check plate."
The fire truck replica was a first for Olsen, who makes custom furniture and cabinetry. The design work never stopped, as he was constantly confronted with the challenge of making the truck parts out of wood. It took 10 hours to hand-carve the tires, for example.

"There's depth to everything. Everything steps out and steps in. It gives it a 3D look," he said.

While the work was slow going, Olsen was energized by the encouragement of his superiors and the positive response from his children: Christie, age five at the time, and Nathan, age three. He even took his daughter's comments to heart when building the cab. Originally, it had a Freightliner front end.

"My five-year-old daughter comes in and I asked her, ‘What do you think, Christie?' She said, ‘Daddy, it looks like a garbage truck.' As my wife and kid are leaving the shop, I'm there prying off the front end."