West Sacramento Fire Department staff and residents push Engine 45 into its bay at Station 45. The engine, mothballed since 2012, was restored to service due to the passage of Measure O. Photo courtesy of the City of West Sacramento

WEST SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) - In a tradition that harkens back to the days of horse-drawn apparatus, the West Sacramento Fire Department returned one of its engines to service with a “push-in” ceremony Thursday morning, Dec. 5.

Fire Department staff and residents pushed Engine 45 into its bay at the headquarters building, Station 45, located at 2040 Lake Washington Blvd. The engine, which had been out of service since 2012 due to lack of funding, was restored to service after sales-tax ballot initiative Measure O was passed in November.

The ballot measure passed with a more than 53% yes vote. The measure is slated to raise $20 million through enacting a 1-cent sales tax that will go “to rebuild roads and repair potholes, increase police and fire protection, recruit and retain public safety personnel, maintain parks and trails, address homelessness, and keep public spaces safe and clean.”

At the Dec. 5 ceremony, West Sacramento Fire Chief Steve Binns said that the city has seen a 70% increase in the number of calls for service and 130% increase in strictly fire calls since 2008.

“So it’s gotten a lot busier here,” Binns added.

Engine 45’s restoration to service will add nine additional firefighter positions, three firefighters, three fire engineers and three captains. According to its website, the department operates five fire stations 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with each of three shifts always staffed by 17 fire personnel on duty.

Binns said adding Engine 45 back into service returns the department’s fire apparatus complement to five engines and one ladder truck.

It costs $1.5-million annually to fully staff Engine 45. West Sacramento public information officer Paul Hosley said the city is using budgeted overtime and one-time General Fund dollars to cover the costs of operating Engine 45 until Measure O funds become available.

Binns said having the engine back in service will decrease incident response time, along with the amount of time it takes to get water onto an active fire. It will increase the number of firefighters that can be “on scene in a timely fashion,” along with increasing the department’s overall training capability.

“Most importantly, it will decrease our need for neighboring agencies to come into West Sac to assist us,” Binns added.

According to the website FireRescue1.com, the push-in ceremony dates back to the 1800s and the days of horse-drawn fire apparatus. Fire crews returning from calls were unable to back their animals into the station, requiring them to detach the animals from the apparatus and push the wagons back into the bays.

With the appearance and adoption of motorized fire apparatus, the need for this procedure was eliminated. It subsequently became a tradition of departments when taking delivery of new apparatus or opening a new fire station to honor those early crews with a push-in ceremony.

Engine 45 wasn’t in its bay very long, as within 15 minutes, it was off on its first call.