Brevard County firefighters performed a long-standing fire service tradition Friday afternoon that hadn't been done on the Space Coast in almost three decades.
- Brevard firefighters, community members welcome new truck
- Fire Rescue revived longtime tradition called 'push-in' ceremony
- Neighbors, firefighters wiped down new truck, pushed it into bay
It's called a "push-in" ceremony, dating back to the days when fire departments used horse-drawn water pumpers.
On Friday, firefighters at Station 65 sprayed their new 1,500-gallon fire truck — the department's first since 2010.
Neighbors wiped it down with rags and joined together to push the rig into the station bay.
"(We did this) to show the community our commitment to them with the addition of a new truck, and to show our members that we are bringing back the traditions we used to have," Brevard Fire Rescue Chief Mark Schollmeyer said.
In the early days of firefighting, horses put into service would be washed down with water from the retiring pumper, then backed into the fire station by firefighters and community members.
The new truck will serve the south beaches area of Brevard, which doesn't have fire hydrants.