![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/12-6-25-business-5-179988-l0ujpxtz-981344-MVhIEm1T-1024x676.jpg\")
Santa\u2019s sleigh sits on top of Fire Engine 13 before the Belmont Shore Christmas parade in Long Beach on Saturday, Dec. 8, 2025. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/p>\nDo you know the story of the firefighters who saved Santa\u2019s sleigh?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been told and retold in Long Beach fire stations for years, but it\u2019s not well known outside the department. You\u2019re probably familiar, however, with the sleigh.<\/p>\n
For more than three decades, it\u2019s carried the man in the big red suit \u2014 perched atop a Long Beach fire engine \u2014 during the Belmont Shore and Daisy Lane Christmas parades.<\/p>\n
On it, written in gold paint, are the names of five men who built the sleigh in 1991. It was a minor Christmas miracle that took place at Fire Station 13 in West Long Beach just before the sleigh\u2019s first appearance.<\/p>\n
The story goes like this:<\/p>\n
When their station got the call, the original request was for the crew to touch up the paint job on \u201ca plywood box\u201d with a sleigh design painted on it. It was supposed to be a quick dress-up job on the box scheduled to appear in the Belmont Shore parade about 48 hours later.<\/p>\n
Firefighter Jim Meiers recalls seeing the box and saying, \u201cWe ain\u2019t doing that.\u201d Santa deserved better.<\/p>\n
A midday trip to Lowe\u2019s later, he and the rest of the firefighters on duty that night set to work.<\/p>\n
Around midnight, they had all the pieces cut out and \u201cstapled together\u201d in a rough outline of a sleigh, Meiers said.<\/p>\n
He stayed over on the next shift to add the signature red paint, then asked the afternoon crew to put on another coat.<\/p>\n
The next morning, they painted the accent trim, added Christmas lights and made the seats.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen,\u201d Meiers recalls, they ran into a more uncommon problem: \u201cWe needed some reindeer.\u201d<\/p>\n
On a whim, he asked a nearby pool company if they had any inflatable reindeer in stock. Shockingly, they did. But the real trouble came when they tried to keep them inflated for the duration of the parade, which \u2014 as any attendee knows \u2014 can stretch for hours on Second Street.<\/p>\n
Santa\u2019s sleigh sits on top of Fire Engine 13 before the Belmont Shore Christmas parade in Long Beach on Saturday, Dec. 8, 2025. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/p>\n
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Paul Meiers, a Long Beach firefighter, made \u201cSleigh 13\u201d magnets to relabel Engine 13 before the Belmont Shore Christmas parade in Long Beach on Saturday, Dec. 8, 2025. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/p>\n
One of the firefighters hooked up a system of paramedic nasal tubing to each of the reindeer, along with an air bottle for Santa\u2019s passenger to squeeze whenever the reindeer started to droop.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt got to be kind of cute on the parade because you could see those things going down and then all of a sudden they blow back up,\u201d Meiers said.<\/p>\n
Since surviving that first parade, the sleigh has made it 35 years and needed only minor paint touch-ups.<\/p>\n
After Jim retired in 2002, his son Paul Meiers took over his exact shift at Fire Station 13.<\/p>\n
Paul also assumed Jim\u2019s position at the wheel, driving the engine with Santa atop during the yearly parade routes and annual holiday toy distribution.<\/p>\n
The sleigh used to be a fixture at the old City Hall during the month of December, but hasn\u2019t made the transition to the new one, Paul said. Instead, it stays on a spare truck at Fire Station 13.<\/p>\n
This year, for the first time, Jim and Paul rode together in the firetruck at the Belmont Shore parade.<\/p>\n
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Paul Meiers, a Long Beach firefighter, stands next to his father, retired Long Beach firefighter Jim Meiers. For decades, they\u2019ve been the caretakers of Santa\u2019s Sleigh, which rides aboard Sleigh 13 (Engine 13) during the Belmont Shore Christmas parade in Long Beach on Saturday, Dec. 8, 2025. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/12-6-25-business-0-111193-16zqhxra-501172-SpZsK2l9-1024x713.jpg\")
Santa\u2019s sleigh sits on top of Fire Engine 13 before the Belmont Shore Christmas parade in Long Beach on Saturday, Dec. 8, 2025. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/p>\n
Following in his dad\u2019s footsteps, Paul plans to retire soon, but he said he\u2019s going to miss getting to drive Santa around.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great feeling, just watching the kids\u2019 excitement,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
Even adults who see the sleigh perched on top of the firetruck light up at the sight.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody honks at us the entire way\u201d to the parade, Paul said.<\/p>\n
The sleigh is just a piece of their legacy.<\/p>\n