UFD Celebrates New Engines with a Push-In Ceremony

The City of Urbana Fire Department celebrated the first of our traditional “Push-In’ ceremonies for our 2 new E-One Engines. 

Urbana Fire Chief, Chuck Lauss said, "I want to say a special thank you to our Apparatus Committee lead by Battalion Chief Mike Wallace, Roy Lane, Tal Prendergast, Troy Roberts, Cory Roberts, Andy Stewart, Mitch Rolson and Jeff Orr.  Thank you Craig Hamrick, our E-One representative for all of your dedication, commitment and patience through this wonderful process.  Thank you to April Smysor who has help in all of the behind the scenes administration and the coordination of this event.  A special thank you to our retires, without you we would not be here today.  And especially Danny Harmon for the bells."

He added:

"The Fire Department is very excited to put a new fire engine into service at Station 4 and later at Station #2. It took a committee of 8 fire officers and firefighters over two years to spec and design the fire engine that was built by E-One Manufacturing in Ocala, Florida. It took 10 months for E-One to build our new fire engine that has many of the same safety features as a new car including airbags in the cab, ABS brakes, traction control, roll stability control, independent front suspension and an air ride rear suspension. Our fire engine seats four firefighters, carries 2600 feet of hose, has a 500 gallon water tank, pumps 1500 gallons of water per minute, has 40 gallons of foam and carries three different size ladders. The fire engine also has GPS tracking that enhances responses to emergencies."

The services that the Fire Department provides have changed significantly over the last 20 years. The fire engine has become a multi-purpose emergency vehicle capable of mitigating a variety of emergencies besides fires. The fire engines are now staffed with Intermediate/Paramedics and their needed medical equipment, rescue tools including the Jaws of Life, water rescue gear, power saws, large fans to exhaust smoke and toxic gases. A computer is mounted in the cab for use by the fire officer to improve communications, and has a variety of resources available to assist the fire officer. In addition, the fire engine now has dedicated hoses and adapters for fires in high-rises and large commercial buildings.

Chief Lauss talked about the plannning that went into the acquisition: "The committee worked to strategically locate the equipment on the fire engine so the firefighters can work efficiently. Some of the improvements were to locate the paramedic equipment in compartments in the cab with easy access from the exterior & interior of the fire engine. This improved the battery powered extrication tools storage in the front bumper. The compartments have roll-up doors, pull-out tool boards and shelves to improve the accessibility of tools and equipment. The pre-connected hoses are off the back of the Engine now to be able to pull past the structure and see 3 sides for a better size up and the hose bed is lower for much better accessibility for deployment and reloading.

Each fire engine has a service life of 12 years front line, 8 year in reserve and the Fire Department allocates money every year into an apparatus replacement fund for the service life of each fire engine in order to pay for its replacement in full at the time of purchase. The bodies of our fire engines are made from aluminum and stainless steel, keeping our fire engines looking their best for 20 years. A clean & shiny fire engine is a symbol of pride and professionalism."

About the Traditional Fire Service “Push-In Ceremony”

The Push-In Ceremony is a tradition that dates back to the late 1800s when fire departments used hand-drawn pumpers and horse-drawn equipment. Upon returning to the station after a fire call, the horses could not easily back the equipment into the station. So they were disconnected from the fire equipment and firefighters would push the equipment back in to the bays themselves.