CBTECH students push in their own fire engine

MOSES LAKE — The Fire Science students at Columbia Basin Technical Skills Center held their first push-in ceremony last week, welcoming home their new fire truck.

The truck was a donation from the city of Moses Lake, and while the program had borrowed it in the past, it’s now all theirs, explained CBTECH Fire Sciences teacher Lynn Dodd.

“It was a fire truck that was still in service,” Dodd said. “It was a backup of a backup of a backup, but if for some reason the city needed it, they could come and get it and they could utilize it. This last summer it failed pump testing and was deemed no longer an asset to the city. It doesn’t meet the requirements to be an in-service engine anymore … So we can do whatever we want with that truck and stock that truck and train on that truck, and it now is an asset of our class.”

Dodd wasn’t sure how long the city had had the truck, but she said it had served the Moses Lake Fire Department since at least the early 2000s. Over the years the city acquired newer equipment but kept the old engine around until it became more expensive to maintain than it was worth, she said.

The truck is a 2001 E-One Class A engine, Dodd said. E-One is the manufacturer of the vehicle, and a Class A engine is built to hold at least 300 gallons of water, more often 400-500, and pump at least 1,000 gallons per minute, according to the website of fire equipment dealer Pierce Manufacturing.

That model is still in common use, Dodd said, so it’s similar to what the students will be working with after they graduate. In the meantime, it gives hands-on training that will be invaluable in the field.

“We’re able to stock it like a full fire engine so they can see all the tools, all the equipment where they would find it on an apparatus,” Dodd said. “It still has pumping capabilities, so we are still able to pull hose lines (and) practice spraying water, doing our nozzle patterns, loading hoses, maneuvering hoses through tight spaces and doing search and rescue. All the operations that we would normally do with a fire truck, we can still do them with that truck.”

The engine was brought into the bay at CBTECH in a push-in ceremony, which is a custom dating back to the 19th century when fire engines were horse-drawn. The apparatus has to face outward in the station so a not to waste valuable time turning it around, but horses couldn’t back the wagon in, so firefighters would unhitch them and push the wagon inside by hand. Over the years, the push-in has come to be a ritual marking the acquisition of a new engine.

The CBTECH Fire Science program serves 34 students, Dodd said. They spend two and a half hours of their school day there, Dodd said, and earn high school credit in science, PE and Career and Technical Education. Some will go to be professional firefighters, but even those who don’t will be well prepared to join any volunteer department.

“It’s really important that we get these kids involved at a young age and interested in the fire service so that they can give back to their communities,” Dodd said. “I’m really glad that that partnership between the city of Moses Lake and the Moses Lake School District (lets them) come together to encourage and build up the next generation.”