HELENA — The City of Helena celebrated the newest addition to its fleet of firetrucks with a push-in ceremony hosted at Helena Fire Department Station #2 which serves Helena's east side.
“But just to give the community some involvement in the purchase that they made, that we get to use. This is an opportunity for them to come and see the truck, do a ceremonial push-in to put it into service, so to speak, for the community,” says Assistant Chief of Operations for the Helena Fire Department, Mike Chambers.
The push-in ceremony is a call back to the days when fire apparatus were horse-drawn and had to be pushed into the station after a hard day's work. Folks at the ceremony had the opportunity to check out and tour the new truck, participate in a wipe-down of the truck and push it into the station. Fire Chief, Jon Campbell, and folks from the City Commission gave remarks.
The new truck features a 100-foot ladder and elevated platform, as well as a 400-gallon tank. The truck cost around $1.3 million.
“We don't want to minimize the impact of the cost to the community, but for a 20-year purchase, the city is going to get a lot of use and a lot of benefit from this truck,” says Chambers.
The truck arrived late last month after a three-day drive from Wisconsin. It replaces a truck that was two decades old.
“Plus, we really need it just to do our jobs in terms of rescues, firefighting. Just everything that we do as a fire department, this truck is going to help us do it better, faster, and more efficiently for the long term,” says Chambers.
