A Cambridge firefighter with Wareham ties is saving fire service history, one box of records at a time.

Howie Smith, Jr., known nationally as “The Maxim Guy,” has rescued hundreds of files from the now defunct Maxim Motor Co. The Middleboro-based company built custom fire apparatus from 1914 until it closed in 1989.

In 2010, Smith and his father, Howie Smith, Sr., a captain with the Wareham Fire Department, travelled to Hershey, Pennsylvania after learning Maxim records stored there were going to be thrown out.

In those boxes were records of hundreds of fire trucks the company built, including ones for Wareham and Onset vehicles. Smith shared his knowledge of the Maxim company and how he became interested in antique fire apparatus on Monday night during a Wareham Historical Society presentation. 

He shared publicly that six months ago he saved another set of Maxim records, this time from the company’s former headquarters. 

“History is important to everybody in different fashions,” said Smith. “I’m all about the crazy fire apparatus stuff.”

So much so, that at one point Smith, his father and brother owned five antique trucks between themselves.

“You can never just have one fire truck,” he joked.

Inspired by his father, Smith joined the Wareham Fire Department at the age of 15. While in college he took a course on the history of the fire service and discovered he had an interest in that area. Since then, he’s restored several antique firetrucks, been invited to speak on the Maxim Motor Co. in different parts of the country and was honored with a Historian of the Industry Award on behalf of the Antique Truck Historical Society.

Smith said one highlight was a 2009 trip he made to Indianapolis. He was invited to give a presentation on Maxim by firefighters in the city. The trip included a massive parade and a race in an antique firetruck around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“We were treated like royalty,” said Smith.

Looking ahead, Smith said he was going to review and categorize the files in the boxes from Maxim he recently saved. It is, after all, what he loves to do.

“Some people smoke, some people drink, some people play scratch tickets — I collect antique fire apparatus records,” he said.