ROCK SPRINGS — The Rock Springs Fire Department welcomed a new fire engine with a time-honored tradition Wednesday evening.
The fire department hosted a push ceremony for its new engine at the RSFD fire station on Hillcrest Drive. Even during a welcoming ceremony, duty calls and some of the firefighters on hand at the event were dispatched to an emergency call.
Fire Chief Jim Wamsley said the push in ceremony dates back to when fire apparatuses were horse-drawn wagons. He said the wagons would need to be pushed back into a firehouse by hand after a response. With the advent of motorized fire engines, firefighters no longer needed to push the vehicle back into a fire house and the practice became ceremonial to welcome a new fire truck into a station. Wamsley said the tradition promotes strength because the fire department’s firefighters are one group.
Wamsley said the city got two fire engines for $680,000 apiece, essentially a two-for-one deal as a new fire engine can cost between $1.2 million and $1.3 million. Wamsley said the cost increase is a result of post COVID-19 pandemic inflation as prior to the pandemic, was much more affordable. The new fire engines don’t have all the equipment a top-of-the-line fire engine would have and required the RSFD to move equipment from older trucks that isn’t obsolete to the new trucks.
Wamsley expressed gratitude to the Rock Springs City Council for approving the purchase as well.
“It takes a village to accomplish things that need to be done,” he said.
