Retired CL firefighter stays busy at museum

BY Dawn Rankins

Long-time Canyon Lake resident Andy Spada couldn’t stay retired very long. He saw a need at Perris’ Southern California Railway Museum and jumped right in volunteering as its Fire Marshal.

After 37 years of fire department work all along the west coast, including a stint at Canyon Lake’s Fire Station 60, Andy found purpose the past couple of years at the Perris museum.

Andy began his career at the age of 21 in the South Bay area. He started with the Manhattan Beach Fire Department as a paid call reserve before being picked up by the Hawthorne Fire Department.

Andy served in Hawthorne for a while before taking on a position with the El Segundo Fire Department where he worked near the gasoline refineries.

Andy and his wife decided to move from California to Klamath Falls, Oregon where Andy was captain of his fire department before they decided to move back to California and found a home in Canyon Lake.

Andy was able to secure a position with Orange County Fire and he commuted from Canyon Lake.

“The shifts were good, so the commute was worth it,” Andy said. “I decided, though, that I wanted to work closer to home, so I applied to Riverside County Cal Fire. I became a battalion chief for Menifee.”

He then was assigned to Canyon Lake Fire Station 60.

“It truly was a gift to serve the community I lived in,” he said. “I was promoted to Engineer EMT and was relocated to Station 64 on Indian Truck Trail near Corona.”

Southern California Railway Museum Fire Marshal Andy Spada’s wife Jackie Spada and grandchildren Jackson Mendoza, 3, and Lilly Mendoza, 9, hop on the front of a vintage railroad engine at the museum. Photos by Dawn Rankins

During his decades of fire department work, he said he has retired a few times, but always jumped back into a job. When he was at CalFire, he worked for Disneyland on his off days.

“Working at Disney was a great experience,” Andy said. “Working for Disney was a different kind of special. Being in my firefighter uniform and being able to talk to kids and seeing them light up because a fireman talked to them while being at Disneyland, that was a feeling I can’t explain. I was told by many parents how they appreciated me talking to their little ones and how it made their day, but in all honesty, it was my day that was made.”

Finally, he retired for good.

“I had many wonderful experiences throughout my fire career,” Andy said. “I’ve been able to serve at many different locations, even at Rincon Indian Reservation, but in 2020 I retired. I finished up as Murrieta’s fire marshal. I was done…or so I thought.”

While visiting the train museum in Perris with his wife and grandkids about a year after retirement, he started up a conversation with a couple of the museum volunteers. His fire career came up and the volunteers told him about the volunteer fire department at the museum.

“I told them I might just have to look them up one day,” he said. “A while later, I contacted Chris Baldwin, one of the gentlemen I had met, ” Andy said. “It was time for me to get out of the house and do something productive. I signed up and they made me the volunteer fire marshal for the museum.”

As the fire marshal, Andy is always on hand for the many events that the museum holds.

“I’m passionate about this museum because I want to help preserve history and with the many volunteers working at the museum, there’s plenty of history to be shared,” he said. “I don’t know how many people even know the museum is there.”

The museum has a connection to the Canyon Lake community, he said. Some of the tracks that used to connect Perris, Hemet and Lake Elsinore went right through Canyon Lake. Some of the tracks are still under water in the lake.

Before being developed into Canyon Lake in the 1960s, the lake was called Railroad Canyon Reservoir. Railroad Canyon Road had railroad tracks alongside it for years.

“The railroad’s history in Canyon Lake and the museum needs to be preserved,” Andy said. “ Volunteering at the museum helps keep the history alive. Volunteers help keep the museum open so the history doesn’t die.”

One of his self-imposed tasks as a volunteer is to help promote the museum and encourage others to check it out.

“We live within a 15-minute drive of the museum,” Andy said. “I want people to know there’s something for everyone there. If you are retired or want to learn, please come and volunteer your time, or come take a tour and check it out.”

“Trains are a part of us,” he said. “The museum helps breed future railroad workers. We need to give back to the railway because those trains on display there gave to us. Trains were, are and will continue to be a part of our lives.”

Andy is especially grateful for the support and encouragement of his wife, Jackie.

“I’m lucky to have a wonderful wife who understands that being a fireman is in my blood,” Andy said. “It’s a part of me. Because of Jackie, I‘m still living the dream in a huge way. I get to still work and volunteer for fire and I get to work around trains. I am thankful and blessed.”

For more information on the museum, its many events and how to become a volunteer visit socalrailway.org.