Santa Cruz Fire Station 61 held a “push-in” ceremony Wednesday to celebrate its brand-new fire engine.
The downtown Santa Cruz station welcomed the new vehicle — the first wildland engine for the department — with a “push-in,” a firefighting tradition that pays tribute to past generations of firefighters who used horse-drawn equipment.
“Because the horses couldn’t easily back apparatus into the station, the firefighters would disconnect the apparatus and physically push the engine back into the bay by hand,” Santa Cruz Fire Chief Rob Oatey told a crowd of firefighters and city officials gathered at the Center Street station. “This practice actually occurred right around the corner on Church Street back in the late 1800s. Over time, this act became symbolic of teamwork, unity and the shared commitment that firefighters have to protecting their communities.”
The Type 6 engine is a compact and highly maneuverable four-wheel-drive wildland firefighting vehicle designed for responding quickly to fires in rough terrain.
“It’s also a pretty versatile tool that you could use outside of the wildland,” Oatey told Lookout. “It’s also becoming more and more utilized throughout the fire service. It is cheaper, more maneuverable and gets into a lot of different areas” in the wildland-urban interface.
The vehicle is designated Engine 661 and will be stationed downtown, which will allow crews to respond quickly and help other firefighting agencies during wildfire incidents and other emergencies.
Rep. Jimmy Panetta earmarked $400,000 for the city’s fire department through the federal appropriations process, which covered the cost of the new engine. He said it’s important for members of the public to see the federal government working for them.
“Hopefully that gives them faith in the federal government that it can actually do some good despite all of the bad that we see going on,” Panetta said.
Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley said firefighters deserve the right equipment to respond to emergencies in a warming climate, and commended Panetta for delivering the funding that local fire departments need.
“Having one more tool, a very effective tool, in our toolbox for protecting the community is very important to us,” he said. “That’s particularly important as climate change increases both the frequency and the severity of wildland fires.”
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