Fire District’s new engine now on the job

The Weiser Fire District’s newest fire engine officially went into service Saturday, April 5, following a traditional “push-in” ceremony at the WFD station on West Commercial Street.

 Describing the 2025 Rosenbauer Type 1 engine to the Weiser Signal American, Fire Chief Bud Fisher said it has a 1,500 gallon per minute pump, and a 1,000-gallon booster tank.

 “It has all of our first-out equipment onboard for structure fires,” Fisher said.  “We’re putting it into service today, after the push-in ceremony. We will notify dispatch that is it ready for service so if we get a call at 5 o’clock this afternoon for a structure fire, it will be the first truck out.”

 Fisher said the truck was ordered in January of 2021.

 “But Covid had hit, and supply chains were affected,” he said. “We all know the story of Covid and all of the things that came with it. So, here we are today, and I think supply chains and getting parts aren’t going to change all that much. Right now, new engines that are ordered are a minimum of two years out. And, if you order a ladder truck or aerial platform, they’re six years out.”

 Fisher said he doesn’t anticipate Weiser’s Fire District to ever order those larger and more expensive trucks and pieces of equipment, but “larger departments down the valley have to budget six years out for those kinds of things.”

 “If we ever get one of those, it will be a used one,” he said. “We can’t afford those.”

 Fisher is a longtime firefighter in the Weiser area, and served as the city’s chief for a number of years.

 “I was the fire chief with the city 25 years ago,” he said. “The last new truck there was a Pierce 4-wheel-drive truck I ordered. After I left, it was sold and they bought some other stuff.”

 In 2022 the Weiser Fire Department and Weiser Area Rural Fire District combined into one fire protection unit, Weiser Fire District, with the new organization’s funding continuing through rural levied taxes and a contract agreement with the City of Weiser. 

 Fisher said the district’s current volunteer firefighters number at 32, with another three junior firefighters.

 “We’re taking applications all of the time,” he said. “The problem nowadays is that volunteers can’t always get away from work when a fire is reported. So, we need more people who are available at different times of the day. We’ve become a 24/7 society, so it’s different than when people worked 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., or on one of three 8-hour shifts.”

 Opening the ceremony, Fisher extended his appreciation to all who came for the celebration.

 “It’s been a while coming, something that John Stuart and I started about four years ago,” Fisher said. “A long time coming, but we finally got this done. Just so you know, it’s been 20 years since this department got a new truck. A new truck 20 years ago was $160,000 to $170,000, maybe $200,000. This truck was a lot more than that, so it will last this department probably well into the next century.”

 He thanked the Weiser Fire District board, Nick Rynearson, Dennis Cooper, and Seth Matthews.

 “They had the insight to keep this thing going,” Fisher said. “To the Weiser Mayor and City Council, without their cooperation, this wouldn’t have happened.”

 He commended the Fire District’s bookkeeper Shawn Smith.

 “Without her I don’t think this would have happened,” Fisher said. “This has been an experience. The last couple or three months, trying to get everything done. It’s been a job and Shawn has stuck with it.”

 Fisher extended praise to retired firefighter Ron Bruce, who has stepped in with fabricating brackets for the truck to put it into service; WFD Lt. “Mac” MacDonald for his communications and related technology expertise; and, at last to the district’s firemen.

 “They probably got tired of hearing, ‘this truck is coming, this truck is coming,’’’ Fisher said. ‘“Here it is. This truck is ours.”

The push-in tradition

 Describing the long history of fire department push-in ceremonies, Fisher said they date back to the days of horse-drawn pumpers.

 “The steam powered units were pulled by horses, specially bred and trained to pull the pumper,” he said. “But they weren’t trained to back up with the pumper, just to go forward, hard and fast.

 “After a fire call, the steamer was parked in front of the station, then the firemen would push it back into its bay,” he said. “That’s where the ceremony tradition came from. Then, when motorized equipment came along, there was a reverse in the truck. But, to keep the tradition alive, the firemen decided whenever there was a new fire truck they would push it into the station to signify it was ready for service.

 “I’m trying to keep this tradition alive, and I hope the next generation will do the same,” Fisher concluded. “Because I think we need to remember that… the way things were.”