Coeur d'Alene firefighters welcome new fire engine

 Coeur d’Alene dedicated a new fire engine Thursday.

The fire engine was purchased with the $16.4 million general obligation bond funds approved by voters in May.

Fire Chief Tom Greif said a similar stock engine would have cost the department $560,000 in 2015, but came to $1.1 million for this one. 

“It’s got everything we need and it carries everything,” Greif said.    

The department plans to replace eight aging fire trucks and other fleet vehicles at an estimated cost of $10 million. 

The remaining $6 million of the bond will go toward repairing older facilities and equipment.   

“That was our third bond in 20 years,” Greif said. “Without that bond, this engine wouldn’t be possible.” 

Drawing from the historic legacy of firefighting, participants at the ceremony pushed the engine backwards into its proper place in Station No. 2. 

“Back in the 1800s, the wagons were pulled by horses with water pumps on them,” Greif explained.  

When they got back to the fire station, they couldn’t back them in, so firefighters had to detach the horses from the fire engines and push the equipment into the station. 

The invocation for the new engine also asked for safety in travels and execution of firefighting duties in service to “prolong the lives of our community.” 

“May this new fire engine bring rescue, healing and hope to many in their time of need and may it bring our firefighters safely home," Greif said. 

    Coeur d’Alene Fire hosted a ceremony to add a new fire engine to its holdings. To conclude the ceremony, participants pushed the engine backwards as a historic nod towards the days of horses being used to fight fires. Horses aren’t comfortable backing into the station, so in the horse-drawn engine days, firefighters had to detach the horses from the equipment and push the equipment into the station.
  

Heads are bowed as an invocation is read at the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department's dedication ceremony for the new fire engine at Fire Station 2.