Steinbach Firefighters honored an age-old practice Monday evening when they joined together to push a brand new rescue truck into their hall.

“In the fire service that is a tradition," explains Fire Chief Kel Toews, ”and that dates back to the time of the horse-drawn fire wagon. When a new vehicle came in, the horses would bring it to the door and the members would push it into the hall.”

This new firetruck, however, is no horse-drawn wagon and Toews says it is equipped with many useful features.

“It’s considerably different from our old rescue,” notes Toews. “This one is carrying water and a pump which the old one didn’t have. that’s for the protection of our firefighters so if there’s a spark at a motor vehicle collision we have water on hand.”

In addition to that, Toews indicates that the new heavy wet rescue truck is outfitted with much more storage space, and is better equipped to handle tall buildings and confined spaces.