Idaho Falls Fire Department places new engine with traditional ceremony

IDAHO FALLS — Station 4 of the Idaho Falls Fire Department held a “push-in” ceremony to place its new frontline response engine Monday.

The push-in marked the end of the 15-year life cycle of truck No. 415, which will now be kept in reserve. The new engine, No. 4007, joins two ambulances, one rescue truck, one water tender — used to transport water from a source to a fire — and one light truck at the station on Woodruff Avenue and Sunnyside Road, one of the area’s busiest stations. Idaho Falls Fire Department also operates a transport ambulance at Station 4, due to its proximity to hospitals and other health care facilities.

The need for the wide array of equipment at Station 4 is due to the station’s need, responding to medical emergencies, vehicle accidents, and structure and bush fires, IFFD spokesperson Kerry Hammon said.

Although Station 4’s new engine is a contemporary shade of red, the ceremony unveiling it was more traditional.

It featured a push-in ceremony, which dates back to the days of horse-drawn engines, when firefighters were required to push a new fire engine into a station due to the horses’ inability to drive it backward.

The ceremony also included the washing of the new engine. This stage of the process was required after water transferred from an old engine would spill on the new one.