Fire District Holds Blessing Ceremony Of New Fire Engine

NEW LENOX, IL — Officials at the New Lenox Fire Protection District recently bless a new fire engine which will be going into service for the district. Fire Chief Adam Riegel, Deputy Chief Dan Turner, Chaplain Bill Ciston and members of the NLFPD took part in the blessing of the new engine on Tuesday afternoon, the district said.

According to the district, this is part of a fire service tradition that dates to the days of horse-drawn engines. The new apparatus is blessed, then welcomed by pushing it into its new quarters at the fire station.

“The push-in ritual can be traced back to the late 1800s when it was a challenge to get horses to push equipment backwards. As a result, firefighters moved the equipment into storage areas by hand," Riegel said.

The new fire engine is a 2020 Pierce Saber with a 1500 gallon per minute Waterous pump and 750-gallon water tank. It is an Advanced Life Support equipped engine, which gives it the same capabilities as an ambulance apart from transport, the district said. It is replacing a 2004 Pierce Dash, which will be used a reserve engine.

“We are very thankful to our community,” Turner said in a release. “Thanks to our residents we were able to purchase the new engine which will provide more reliability to our fleet and less maintenance costs for the district.”