On Friday morning, the Danville Fire Department held a “Wet-down/Push-in” ceremony. The ceremony was to place its newest fire engine into service.

The ceremony was held at the fire department’s headquarters and Station No.1. The ceremony continues a decades-old tradition in fire service history of pushing a new engine backward into the fire station bay for its first time in service.

The tradition began in the late 1800’s when fire departments used hand-drawn pumpers and horse-drawn equipment. Upon returning to the fire station after a fire call, the horses could not easily back the equipment into the station, so they were disconnected from the fire equipment and firefighters would push the apparatus back into the bays themselves. Before pushing the apparatus back in the bay, the firefighters would also wash down the apparatus and the horses before readying both for the next fire call.