The Angola Fire Department launched and blessed its new fire truck Monday night, KPCNews.com reported.

A fire official said the ceremony revived an old American tradition, dating to the 19th century, when fire crews had engines pulled by horses. The horse could bring the engines back to the fire station, but they could not back them into the bays. Before finishing their shift, crews would clean the apparatus and push it back into the station.

The official said the tradition of christening a new piece of equipment by washing it and manually pushing it into the station was performed by the Angola Fire Department Monday night.

Angola’s newest apparatus carries 1,800 gallons of water. The new fire truck will be especially helpful for rural areas around the lakes, the report said.

The Lisbon Volunteer Fire Company in Howard County (MD) donated one of its fire engines to the Hindman (KY) Volunteer Fire Department September 8, WFMD.com reported.

Many fire companies in Kentucky have been affected by flooding, such as losing equipment, tools and other resources, the report said.

The truck donated was Engine Tanker 44, which had served the Lisbon Volunteer Fire Company for nearly 30 years, according to the report.

Engine Tanker 44 will be replaced by a larger capacity truck in the upcoming months, the report said.

An overnight fire at the Randolph Golf Complex destroyed 91 golf carts and other equipment in a blaze that the Tucson Fire Department responded to around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday. A solar panel structure above parked golf carts was on fire when firefighters arrived, said Tucson Fire Public Information Officer Michael Colaianni, and the fire was put out at about 2:45 a.
- PUB DATE: 9/14/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Tucson.com

PHOTO: It was last month when retired Odessa Firefighter John Taylor stumbled across an old, unique photo. It was a group photo taken in 1927 of the first fire engine along with the first 13 volunteer firefighters in Odessa. Taylor, who has been researching the history of Odessa Fire and Rescue since the 80s, was stunned when he came across the photo on the website Traces of Texas.
- PUB DATE: 9/14/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Odessa American Online

In much of America, if you call an ambulance, you get a bill afterwards. But in rural New York state, where a lot of emergency services are bundled in with fire departments, that often doesn’t happen. Volunteer fire departments haven’t been allowed to charge for ambulance service. But that means they’ve had to eat the cost.
- PUB DATE: 9/14/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WSKG-FM 89.3 Binghamton