On February 14, 2024 at 4:00pm, the Haughton Fire Department will be holding a “Push-in”
ceremony, at which time, we will be placing our new Rescue One apparatus into service.
The ceremony will take place at the Haughton Fire Department at 224 W. McKinley Ave.,
Haughton, La. 71037.
The acquiring of this apparatus has been years in the making and was brought on by the
need to improve the department’s aging fleet of response vehicles, which in 2023
experienced heavy periods of out-of-service time due to various mechanical issues. The
majority of funds used in this purchase have been slowly set aside over the past 10 years. The
remaining funds were financed through Government Capital, which will be paid back over
the next 4 years. The Town of Haughton is one of the fastest growing communities in N.
Louisiana, which has caused a steady rise in the number of annual responses for the
Haughton Fire Dept. Our new Rescue One apparatus will serve as our primary response
vehicle for all medical, rescue, and fire related calls.
We are also extremely proud and grateful to announce the recent acquisition of several
other pieces of equipment, such as bunker gear washer & dryer, ventilation fan, hand tools,
battery powered tools & lights, helmets, and battery powered extrication equipment, most
of which will find their new home aboard Rescue One. These acquisitions would not have
been possible without the generosity of organizations like the Gary Sinise Foundation,
Calumet Ind., SWEPCO, and the La. Dept. of Agriculture & Forestry. We sincerely thank them
for assisting us in making our firefighters and our community safer.
The “Push-In” ceremony tradition dates back to the mid to late nineteenth century when fire
engines were still pulled by teams of horses. Horse teams of two or three were used to pull
the large steam engines to a fire and then back to the station. The horses were unhitched
from the steamer, which then had to be manually pushed back up the inclined driveway,
and back into the bay to prepare for the next alarm. As these steamers could weight up to 4
tons, it required all of the crew to accomplish this task. When gas powered fire engines
started to appear in the early 1900s, they no longer were required to be pushed in.
Firefighters felt the loss of camaraderie and teamwork that was required to push the
apparatus back into place after every alarm. So the tradition started that when a new
apparatus was bought, the crew would push it into the bay the first time to officially place
the truck in service.
This is just one of the many ceremonies that helps keep the history, tradition, and
camaraderie alive and well in the fire service.