10.1.2026 New Engine 9 In-Service Ceremony

Honoguard, please post the colors.

Thank you for everybody for coming today.

We're going to start the ceremony with a Pledge of Allegiance.

So if you could rise and— I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

You can be seated.

Before we get started today, I want to thank some of the people that made it here today that are integral in the process of getting this apparatus from the point where we ordered it to the point that it's sitting in front of you.

Representative Willette, Representative Sylvia, certainly Senator Michael Rodrigues, City Councilor Michael Cannuel, Mayor Paul Coogan.

It's with our partnerships with our local delegation and our state delegation that we are able to do things like this.

Your support means everything to us today and always.

I want to thank Police Chief J.T.

Hoare for being here today.

Chief Hoare and I have forged a relationship in public safety that is only going to benefit the city.

I appreciate his support.

I appreciate you being here.

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the rainy Eastwood Fire Station.

First of all, thank you for being here, and especially for being flexible with us after we had to postpone this last week.

Between the fire the night before and the storm that was headed our way, we figured celebrating a new fire truck could probably wait a few days.

So we made it, and I'm glad you're here today with us.

Obviously, we're here to place our new Engine 9 into service.

Getting a new piece of apparatus is a big deal for the fire department.

We're going to have this truck for a long time.

Our members will spend thousands of hours on it.

And over its lifetime, it will respond to many thousands of calls throughout the city.

But getting ready for today also gave us a reason to dig a little deeper into the history of Engine 9.

As it turns out, the history goes back a lot further than I imagined.

I want to thank Firefighter Henry Santos from Ladder 2.

He wasn't able to be here today, but he played a large role with the Fall River— he plays a large role with the Fall River Fire Museum, and he did a lot of this digging for me.

So the earliest that Spud could find for a number 9 company in the city was in 1850, where there was a Hose Company number 9 operating out of the Cascade number 2 station on South Main Street.

That's where Alexandra's Boutique is now.

Well, the interesting thing about that is in 1850, the state line actually ran right through what we now consider South Main Street— actually, what we now consider Fall River around South Main Street.

The boundary was Columbia and Spring Streets.

So that station was actually in Tiverton, Rhode Island.

And that changed in 1862 when the state boundary was moved south to essentially where it is today, and that section became Fall River.

Then we fast forward to 1899, and this is really where the history of Pumper 9 and the Flint neighborhood comes together.

Sanborn maps show Pumper 9 at the Bogle Hill Fire Station, 1847 Pleasant Street, where Beressey Heights stands today.

And that Pumper 9 was a horse-drawn pump.

So 127 years ago, Fall River firefighters were leaving a station on Pleasant Street and responding into this neighborhood aboard a horse-drawn Pumper 9.

At some point, a hose wagon and Pumper 9 came together to become Engine 9, and as the apparatus got better, the area the company could cover got bigger.

Engine 9 eventually moved down Pleasant Street to the old Pocasset Station near Stafford Square, where it ran alongside Engine 7 and Ladder 4.

Then in 1988, those companies moved here when the Rainey Eastwood Station opened.

There's another part of this history that's worth talking about, and that's the name Pumper 9 itself.

Officially, the company's Engine 9.

But while we were researching all of this, I learned that an engine is actually one of the oldest terms in the fire service.

Long before a fire truck had a gasoline or diesel engine to move it down the road, The pumping machine itself was called a fire engine.

Pumper was simply a description of what it did.

It pumped water.

When the last Engine 9 was placed in service in 2017— I see now District Chief Sean Flannery here, who was the captain of Engine 9 at the time— the members assigned here decided to bring the name Pumper 9 back as a way of recognizing the history of this company and the apparatus that had served Flint generations before them.

And I think it's pretty cool that this new crew also decided to continue that tradition with this truck.

127 years after our horse-drawn Pumper 9 went into service on Pleasant Street, today we're putting another Pumper 9 into service less than a mile away.

And if you could somehow bring one of those firefighters from 1899 here today and show them the truck sitting here, I don't think he'd know what to make of it.

It would probably look like something from another world.

The technology is different, the equipment's different, the protective gear is different, the way we communicate is different.

Just about everything about the job has changed, except for the most important part.

When somebody needs help, we go.

That's what the firefighters did in 1899, and that's what the men and women riding Pumper 9 will continue to do today.

Now, obviously, a truck like this doesn't just show up.

There's a lot of people who played a part in getting us here.

I want to thank Mayor Paul Krueger for his continued support of the Fall River Fire Department and for understanding how important it is that our firefighters have the equipment they need to do their jobs safely.

I also want to recognize our Community Development Director, Michael Dion.

Mike's commitment to public safety and especially to making sure the people of Fall River are protected by modern, reliable fire apparatus is going on 30 years strong.

As I often say, chiefs come and go, mayors come and go, fire trucks come and go, but Mike Dion is forever.

Mike, thank you.

I also want to recognize Chief Roger St. Martin.

Is Roger here today?

This truck arrived after Roger retired.

But a lot of the work that got us here happened while he was the chief.

Anybody who's been involved in buying a fire truck knows that the process starts a long time before somebody hands you the keys.

The keys.

Roger did a lot of the heavy lifting that ultimately led to this truck sitting behind us today, and I thank him.

I also want to recognize Chief Lynch.

For those of you who know Chief Lynch, not many people here know you.

When the last round of apparatus started arriving in 2017, Chief Lynch started these, these in-service ceremonies and brought back some of the traditions we're continuing today.

That's one of the things I've always admired about the fire service and about the Fall River Fire Department.

We don't have to keep every tradition simply because it's old, but when we have one that means something, it's worth holding on to.

I also want to thank the City Council, state delegation, Finance and Purchasing Departments, Our training division, our mechanics, and everyone else who had a hand in getting this project across the finish line and getting Pumper 9 ready to go to work.

And finally, our apparatus committee.

There are thousands of hours of work represented in this truck that most people will never see.

Specifications, drawings, meetings, inspections, changes, more meetings, more inspections, more changes, and probably a few 45-minute-plus discussions about something on a fire truck that most people wouldn't even notice.

The entire committee deserves our thanks, but I do want to specially recognize Captain Paul Barabee, Firefighter CJ Ponte, and Head Mechanic Rui Santos.

They stepped into the project along the way and played a major role in seeing it through to completion.

They put a lot of time into getting this truck right, both for the firefighters who are going to work on it and for the city that paid for it.

And I think when you look at this finished project, That work shows.

So today, we're going to have a little fun, continue a few old fire service traditions, celebrate some of our history, and add the newest chapter to a story that started with a horse-drawn pumper on Pleasant Street 127 years ago.

Officially, she'll answer as Engine 9, but at the Flint Station, she's Pumper 9.

And today, we put her to work.

Thank you all for being here.

I'd like to now call former Fire Department Chaplain Father Michael Racine for the opening prayer.

Pumper 9, I was very clear on that.

As we gather this afternoon on this wonderful occasion, we gather continuing a tradition of what firefighters have done for years, and that is to stand in pride before a new piece of apparatus.

Prepared by those who work so hard to bring it to its current state of readiness to meet the challenges in the work of our firefighters in our city of Fall River.

We ask you today to continue to bless our gathering upon our firefighters who each day work tirelessly to protect our citizens and their property.

Amen.

Thank you, Father Racine.

And now I'd like to ask Mayor Paul Coogan to come up and give us his remarks.

You know, this is my 7th year as mayor, and I do have to say that these projects start a long, long time ago.

I remember being in Mike Dionne's office one day.

I think Jeff was in there.

And we were talking about when is this truck arriving, when's the next one arriving.

But this is such a united team effort, whether it is financing, federal delegation, state delegation, everybody pitching in to make sure we get the right equipment for all the guys here at the Rainey Firehouse up on Eastern Avenue.

It's a very, very important day for the city of Fall River.

We don't diminish these efforts.

We know what these guys did.

Anybody wants to look at what went on last weekend on the corner of Rodman and South Main Street can see what it's like to contain a fire to 2 buildings when it was an easy run down a contiguous block.

I want to compliment the guys for the way they carry themselves.

I want to compliment their efforts all the way through, and I'm extremely proud of the City of Fall River and everyone's efforts to get Pumper 9, a brand new Pumper 9, up on Eastern Avenue.

Thank you.

So what you're about to see is one of the oldest traditions in the fire service.

The tradition goes back to the days of horse-drawn apparatus.

When a company returned from a call, the firefighters would wash down the horses and the pumper before putting them back into quarters.

That eventually became the tradition of wetting down a new piece of apparatus before it's placed into service.

And you'll notice we're creating a connection between the 2 pumps that you have here today.

The water we're using to wet down our new Pumper 9 is coming directly from the 2017 Pumper 9.

Continuing that tradition from one generation of apparatus to the next.

So before I give this prayer, just a little piece of history.

This Engine 9, the former Engine 9 now, was the last truck that my predecessor Monsignor Thomas Harrington blessed.

And so certainly we remember him today and our prayers.

As we gather today for this wonderful occasion, we gather, good and gracious God, to gather to dedicate this new piece of fire equipment known as Pumper 9.

Throughout the Old Testament, we are reminded of the many dedications of altars and temples dedicated to the glory of God, the very beginning of our ancestors in faith.

Today we ask your humble blessings upon this new Pumper 9, its members, and all of the equipment as implements of our trade as firefighters to meet the many needs of our city.

We come today not only in gratitude, but more importantly for those who have invested many hours of planning for the needs of this department and bringing to fruition the completed work We always give our deepest gratitude for our firefighters, our department, who every day give their wholehearted devotion to their daily work, to which they are called to serve and protect our citizens each day.

And we ask your blessings again upon its crew members.

Give them the safety each day.

Amen.

Take the official holy water.

All right, that one we don't wipe off.

Get the driver's side really good.

Yeah, they don't need it.

Thank you, Father Racine.

Our final tradition is the push-in, and this one goes all the way back to the horse-drawn days of the fire service when companies returned to quarters The horses could pull the apparatus back to the station, but they couldn't back it into the bay.

The horses were disconnected and the firefighters would physically push the apparatus back into quarters.

Today, fire departments continue that tradition when a new piece of apparatus enters service.

Before we do it though, just a quick safety reminder, because obviously of the grade here, we're not going to actually expect you guys to push a 22-plus-ton fire engine.

Up the hill.

So firefighters will be stationed near the door entrances here.

As you're pushing it in, just make sure you peel off because it gets narrow there, and we don't— certainly don't want anyone to get hurt today.

You're going to call fire alarm?

Captain Berube, please call fire alarm and have Engine 9 placed in official service.

Yeah, he's gonna say Papa Nyan in there, but you should have had it on a speaker.

Oh, that's what I thought he was gonna do.

You're right.

That's okay.

Honor Guard, please retire the colors.

Thank you again to everybody who joined us today and everyone who played a part in making this apparatus possible.

Take care of her.

Take pride in her, and most importantly, take care of each other.

From a horse-drawn Pumper 9 leaving Bogle Hill in 1899 to Engine 9 sitting here today, 127 years of service for Pumper 9 continues.

May she serve our city well, and may she always bring our firefighters safely home.

Thank you for being here, everybody.