The City of West Plains and the West Plains Fire Department invite to public to attend a Push In ceremony to commemorate the department’s new fire engine entering the fleet. The ceremony will be held at 10 a.m., Saturday, September 30, at Fire Station 1, 1901 Kissinger Street. The public will have the opportunity to participate in the ceremony.
The tradition of doing a “push in” is a way to honor the heritage of the fire service prior to motorized vehicles. Before motorized vehicles, horse-drawn apparatus were pulled with horses, but once back the station the Firefighters had to push the unit back into the building by hand.
There is another tradition associated with this period of time, “wetting of the wheels”, this was done to keep the wooden spokes of the wheels swelled and tight on the wheel assembly. Normally after an incident the responding personnel will come back the station to put equipment back into service then wash the wheels and the apparatus.
