Montecito Fire Department invites the community to help place its newest fire engine into service with a traditional push-in ceremony. 


The new Engine 92 will be housed at Fire Station 92, 2300 Sycamore Canyon Road in Montecito. Engine 92 replaces a 14-year-old fire engine with more than 100,000 miles on it. That engine is now a reserve unit for Montecito Fire Department.

A community event will mark the fleet’s addition, 4 p.m. Monday, May 6 at Fire Station 92. Students from neighboring Cold Spring School will join Montecito firefighters and community members in manually pushing the engine into the apparatus bay.
 
“The push-in is an old fire service tradition that is a special way to commemorate our new engine,” said Fire Chief David Neels. “Historically, firefighters returning to the station on horse-drawn engines had to unhitch the horses and manually push the engine into the bay.”

A committee of Montecito Firefighters has been working on the design and build out of this engine for three years.

 
“Supply chain issues and manufacturing delays resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic caused the production of this engine to take longer than originally anticipated,” said engineer Daniel Arnold, who serves on the apparatus committee.

“While it was a challenging process, we couldn’t be more pleased with the finished product and know it will serve our community very well,” he said.

Engine 92 is a Type 1, 2023 Pierce Enforcer with a 500-gallon water tank. One major improvement the engine brings to the community is the “pump and roll” capability, meaning water can be sprayed while the engine is in motion, the Fire Department said. This feature is useful in scenarios such as extinguishing a brush fire along a roadway.

Firefighter safety is top of mind when designing a new engine. Airbags, like those in regular passenger vehicles, are not standard in fire engines. For the health and safety of firefighters, the Montecito Fire Department said it invested in a comprehensive airbag system for Engine 92.

The engine is equipped with “all-steer” capability that allows the driver to control the rear of the engine, making it easier and safer to navigate Montecito’s tight driveways and narrow roadways.

“Engine 92 incrementally improves on our past engine with carefully considered adaptations and details to meet the unique needs of our community,” Arnold said.
 
The old Engine 92 will become a backup, or reserve engine for the department. It will take the place of the previous reserve, Engine 192.

The outgoing Engine 192 is a 1997 KME Renegade Type 1 Engine. It was in service in the frontline capacity until 2010. It responded to numerous incidents on the South Coast and participated in mutual aid strike team assignments across California.

After spending 13 years in frontline status and another 13 years as a reserve, the engine will retire to the Allan Hancock College (AHC) Public Safety Training Center to help train the next generation of firefighters.

“As part of the operational area fire community, Montecito Fire chose to donate Engine 192 to AHC to support the development of future first responders who will one day serve the public,” said Division Chief Travis Ederer.

“In fact, Engine 192 will replace an older Montecito Fire engine we donated to the college about a decade ago,” he said.