wet-down for new Antioch engine « chicagoareafire.com

Jeff rudolph submitted an image of the new UST engine in Antioch with some updates:

The new Antioch engine will run out of sta. 1, the ALF will go to sta. 3, and the ’73 Pirsch is gone.

Antioch Fire District Engine 1 Spartan UST

Antioch Fire District Engine 1 was built by UST on a 2011 Spartan Metrostar chassis. It has a 1,500-GPM pump and 750 gallons of water. Jeff Rudolph photo

The Daily Herald reports that Antioch will have a “wet-down” for the new engine on May 29th.

Two years after it originally received a federal grant, the Antioch Fire Department is gearing up to welcome its newest fire engine with a ceremony from the time of horse-drawn wagons. … the department will host an event featuring the century-old rituals of “wetting down” the new truck, pushing out the old truck and pushing in the new truck.

The ceremony is set for May 29 at 7 p.m. at Fire Station 1, 835 Holbek Drive. It is open to the public.

“In days gone by, when the horses were pulling the fire engines, the tradition was to wet down the wheels and wipe them off and then push the fire pump into the station,” fire Chief John Nixon said. “They wet down the wheels because they wanted to maintain the wooden spokes, so they wouldn’t come into disrepair.”

The truck may look a bit different from the others. The department’s apparatus committee decided the new truck will feature a traditional black roof and red body, as opposed to most of Antioch’s trucks that have a white roof.

“The committee felt this was an opportunity to move ahead as the Antioch Fire Department turns 100 years old next March … (and) adopt a new tradition,” Nixon said. “Black over red is very popular in Chicagoland.”

The truck will also display a newly designed Antioch Fire Department [scramble].

Read the entire article HERE.

thanks Chris

The last area “wet-down” was in Buffalo Grove.