Across the Charlotte region, a sleigh isn’t Santa’s only ride. In Ranlo, for instance, Santa has been delivering candy to kids from a fire truck since 1976.
Bryan Falls remembers Santa riding through his neighborhood on a fire truck when he was growing up in the former textile mill village about 20 miles west of uptown Charlotte.
“I remember as a kid waiting through the month of December for the fire truck to come around, to see the fire truck, to get to see Santa and get that one candy cane,” he said.
The Ranlo Fire and Rescue Squad made its 47th annual ride Saturday. That single candy cane has expanded to treat bags, which Falls says contain “a mix of candy canes, suckers, Sour Patch Kids, bubble gum and mints.”
Now, Falls is an assistant fire chief who organizes the logistics of packing more than 600 bags and covering every residential street in a town that spans two and a half square miles. This year that required two trucks and two Santas.
Santa rides in rain or shine — even snow, though that’s not common in this climate.
“There was one year that it started snowing on us and we just kept trucking along. It was cold but we got done,” Falls said.
But Saturday morning broke clear, and the temperature was around 50 by the time Falls pulled out of the station with colleague Brandon Jones suited up as Santa. That was a blessing; even under a padded suit and beard, things can get chilly riding the front bumper.
Fire stations across the Charlotte region and the country have been doing Santa rides for decades. Several Charlotte neighborhoods look forward to Santa’s sirens announcing his arrival. Just a few miles east of Ranlo, the Community Fire Station 32 in north Belmont plans to do its 58th annual Santa ride on Dec. 23.
Many fire stations post schedules to help families be ready. But nothing is guaranteed because, well, these are first responders.
One year, Falls remembers, “there was actually a fire at the hospital and we assisted on it. And when we pulled up, Santa got off, put on his turnout gear and went.”
Falls has been on the fire and rescue squad for 14 years, but this year’s run was special. His infant daughter, Franky, got her very first visit from Ranlo’s fire truck Santa.
