KILLEEN, Texas (April 27, 2022) – The City of Killeen’s Fire Department will reveal five, new firetrucks as apart of a traditional Push-In ceremony on Wednesday, May 4 at 10:30a.m.
The day will begin with the vehicles on display from 9-10a.m. at City Hall (101 N. College Street). Fort Hood’s 1st Cavalry Horse Detachment will then lead the firetrucks in a procession from the Support Fire Station on Avenue D, to the Central Fire Station (201 N. 28th Street). Killeen Mayor Debbie Nash-King, Chief Jim Kubinski and III Corps and Fort Hood leaders will be among those who speak.
The ceremony will end with a ceremonial “push-in” by City and Fire officials, as well as community members. The Push-In ceremony dates back to horse-drawn steamer engines. Horses will not walk backwards when they are under a load, so when a new steamer was delivered to a firehouse, the assigned members would have to push it into the firehouse.
Following the ceremony at Central Station, there will be three, more push-ins throughout the day as follows:
- 1p.m.: Fire Station #1 (3800 Westcliff Road)
- 2p.m.: Fire station # 8 (7252 E. Trimmier Road)
- 3p.m.: Fire Station #5 (905 W. Jasper Drive)
The community is invited to each of the Push-In events. There will be no formal ceremony at the other push-in events. There will be guides to identify available parking at each location.
Once the order was placed for these vehicles, it took 18 months for this life-saving equipment to be built and delivered. Ten members of the Killeen Fire Department spent three days in Wisconsin performing final acceptance testing and inspection in March, just before their final delivery to Texas. The trucks are expected to serve the citizens of Killeen for at least the next 15 years.
A press conference will follow the ceremony at Central Fire Station.
