Excerpts from the nwherald.com:
The Marengo Fire Protection District honored an old tradition recently with a dedication ceremony for a new fire engine.
The department bought a 2017 Pierce Enforcer for $460,000 which will replace Engine No. 1141 under the same number. The former No. 1141 will become a reserve engine – replacing a 1988 reserve engine – and be kept at Marengo Fire Station 2, at Routes 23 and 176.
A wet-down ceremony consists of taking water from the old engine and washing the new one. Firefighters then push the new engine into the station. The tradition comes from the horse-drawn era, and it has been carried on in departments nationwide since, Lt. Noel Gaines said.
“Everybody knows fire service is big on tradition,” he said. “The wipe down ceremony was such that when horses and buggies came back they would wash the horses down, and if they got a new piece of equipment, they would take the water from the old engine and sort of bless it.”
“We try to set a precedence for [following] tradition,” he said.
thanks Dan
