PHOTOS: On May 2, the Longmont Fire Department celebrated the arrival and commissioning of a new ladder truck with a โtraditional, ceremonial event,โ according to Longmont Public Safety. After the event, the new ladder truck (unit number 52274) officially went into service in the City of Longmont.
The ceremony, called a โpush-in,โ was a symbolic gesture that involves members of a fire department pushing a fire truck into the fire station, a tradition that โdates to the era of horse-drawn fire engines, when firefighters would manually push the apparatus back into the firehouse after a call,โ according to Longmont Public Safety.
Push-in ceremonies pay homage to firefighters in the 1800s who used horse-drawn equipment, according to the City of Longmontโs Public Information Officer Rogelio Mares. It is a widely-practiced tradition for new fire department vehicles. Mares also said that the department participated in a โwet-downโ of the new truck. A wet-down is a ritual celebrated by fire departments in which firefighters commission a new fire apparatus by spraying it with water from the retiring pumperโs tank water. Longmontโs previous front-line ladder truck will transition into reserve status and function as a backup for another ten years of service.
A ladder truck carries multiple ground and aerial ladders of different lengths and purposes, like reaching the upper floors of buildings. The trucks also carry rescue equipment for forcible entry, extrication, and power tools such as chain saws, ventilation fans, and lighting equipment.
The new truck is a 2024 Pierce Dash, 100-foot aerial tower, according to Mares. The ladder truck weighs approximately 70,000 pounds and is possibly too heavy for firefighters to push uphill into Station 1’s garage bay on Terry Street. So, as part of Fridayโs ceremony, Longmont firefighters gathered together to push on the front bumper, but the new truck was also running in reverse, at idle speed, Mares said. Ladder Truck Engineer Bill Bishard said that he had to โuse a lot of brakeโ as the ladder truck was being pushed into its new home.
