Webb City Fire Department dedicates new fire truck

(From the Webb City Area Chamber of Commerce)

The Webb City Fire Department dedicated its new fire truck this morning with the traditional ceremonies.

The wet-down of the truck and push-in ceremony dates back to the early 1800’s. It’s the ceremonial placing of a new fire truck in-service in its firehouse. This tradition evolved from the days when firefighting vehicles were horse drawn buggies. When returning to the station from a call, the horses that were commissioned for service would be washed along with the pumper and also could not back-up so the firefighters unhitched the horses and led them to their stables. The fire engine then would have to be hand pushed into the station so it would be ready for the next call.

We followed up the ceremony with a Webb City Chamber Ribbon Cutting!