The Gastonia Fire Department welcomed citizens, the Mayor, City Council members and City employees to Fire Station 3 on Feb. 6 to help “push in” the department’s new ladder truck.
The “push-in” ceremony is a time-honored tradition in the fire service and is a ceremonial way of retiring the previous fire truck to make way for the new one. As part of the ceremony, Gastonia firefighters removed the “3” from the front of the retiring Ladder 3 and placed it on the new truck.
Water was also removed from the tank of the previous truck and poured into the new Ladder 3. This symbolic act recognizes the previous truck’s tradition of protecting people and property, and signifies that the new truck will do the same.
The new Ladder 3 is a 2018 Spartan/Smeal fire apparatus, which has a 75-foot ladder, 500-gallon water tank, and a 2,000-gallons-per-minute pump.
Gastonia firefighters, city officials and citizens who attended the open house all assisted in ceremoniously pushing the new Ladder 3 into the bay at Station 3, located at 717 Wellons Drive, off Union Road. Once the truck was inside, the station’s battalion chief radioed the dispatch system to officially place the new Ladder 3 into service.
Gastonia Fire Chief Phil Welch,
Mayor Walker Reid and City Council
members Jennifer Stepp, Jim Gallagher
and Robert Kellogg.