A few clouds. Low 58F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..
A few clouds. Low 58F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
Firefighters and chaplain Rodney Snyder push the new Angola Fire Department truck into the fire barn following a blessing ceremony on Monday at the station.
Angola Fire Chief Doug Call, right, walks out of the fire station after a pushing back ceremony was held Monday with Angola’s newest fire truck. Angola firefighters joined Call in a ceremony that’s centuries old.
Firefighter Jay Squadrito wipes down the new fire truck.
Firefighter Hillary Cope wipes down the new Angola fire truck on Monday as part of the ceremony of blessing the truck.
Angola Fire Chief Doug Call presents the Fire Department’s new truck to the community on Monday. The new truck is not the one pictured.
Cupcakes were offered to guests after the ceremony at the Angola Fire Department on Monday.
Firefighters and chaplain Rodney Snyder push the new Angola Fire Department truck into the fire barn following a blessing ceremony on Monday at the station.
Angola Fire Chief Doug Call, right, walks out of the fire station after a pushing back ceremony was held Monday with Angola’s newest fire truck. Angola firefighters joined Call in a ceremony that’s centuries old.
Firefighter Jay Squadrito wipes down the new fire truck.
Firefighter Hillary Cope wipes down the new Angola fire truck on Monday as part of the ceremony of blessing the truck.
Angola Fire Chief Doug Call presents the Fire Department’s new truck to the community on Monday. The new truck is not the one pictured.
Cupcakes were offered to guests after the ceremony at the Angola Fire Department on Monday.
ANGOLA — The Angola Fire Department launched and blessed its new fire truck Monday night.
Fire Chief Doug Call said the ceremony revived an old American tradition, dating to the 19th century. The event was attended by Mayor Richard Hickman and other city officials.
Cupcakes were offered at the end of the ceremony.
Hickman said the department strives to help people who are in trouble using the latest equipment.
He continued by saying the most important thing is bringing everyone back to the station safe. That’s why a new fire truck is so important to the community.
Call said in the 1800s (“which was even before my time,” he said) fire crews used to have engines pulled by horses. The horse could bring the engines back to the fire station, but they could not back them into the station.
Before finishing their shift crews would clean the apparatus and push it back into the station.
Call said the tradition of christening a new piece of equipment would include washing it and pushing it into the station. The same ritual, completed Monday night at the Angola Fire Department.
Even though this beautiful tradition survived throughout the centuries, some things unfortunately have changed.
That is the price of engines, Angola’s newest piece came with a price tag of $690,000 some $440,000 more than the engine it is replacing.
“So, as you can tell things have changed,” he said.
Call said the old fire truck was the first truck in Angola’s fleet to have an enclosed cab, which would carry six firefighters. The pump had a capacity of 2,000 gallons per minute, and the truck carried 750 gallons of water.
“It retired with 103,000 miles on the odometer,” said Call.
The old firetruck was donated to a developing community in Sonora, Mexico, “which is right where the Colorado River meets the ocean,” as Call put it, through an organization called One World Medics.
Angola Fire Department Maintenance Officer Jay Squadrito happened to know Bryan Peterson, a firefighter from Fort Wayne and co-founder of One World Medics, and that’s how Squadrito learned that Angola’s old fire truck could continue to save lives in the communities in need.
Peterson said that San Luis Rio Colorado community in Sonora that received the old fire truck from Angola in turn donated their own old fire truck to an even more impoverished area, and that’s how an old Angola fire truck helped two communities abroad.
Call further said that another piece of history that he only found out the previous day was that the fire chief of the fire department in Mexico that received Angola’s old truck has an uncle who has a business in Fort Wayne.
Angola’s newest apparatus carries 1,800 gallons of water, and “it is geared for [non-hydrated] areas,” said Call.
He said that the new fire truck will be especially helpful for rural areas around the lakes.
After the chief’s speech, Fire Department Chaplain Rodney Snyder blessed the truck and the water that was put in it with the Holy Water, painting crosses on each of the truck’s doors. Snyder also read a prayer of protection from Psalm 121.
“May the water that is pressurized and dispensed from this pumper during times of disaster bring relief, healing and consultation to all those who are suffering,” he said.
After the prayer the firefighters proceeded with a pushing ceremony and cupcakes were offered later.
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