Community helps ‘push’ 2 new Seguin fire trucks into service
9 Sep 2025
City of Seguin
Dalondo Moultrie | The Seguin Gazette
Inspired by adventures of his favorite children’s show character Blippi, 3-year-old Julius Hunt was eager to see a fire truck up close and personally, his father, Deddrick Hunt, said.
Deddrick took Julius to the Seguin Fire Department’s ceremonial push-in event and the toddler wasn’t the only one to get a kick out of the father-and-son adventure.
“I’ve been in a fire truck when I was young,” the elder Hunt said. “This is my first time since I was 7 years old. This is nice.”
Deddrick and Julius heard about the push-in via social media and attended along with scores of other community members at Central Fire Station in downtown Seguin.
Julius enjoyed it tremendously, Deddrick said.
“I came to get my son a good experience with a fire truck in real time,” he said. “He only watches ‘Blippi’ and he loves fire trucks.”
The pair helped push in two new pumper trucks to help the fire department put them into service.
The “push-in” ceremony is a time-honored fire service tradition dating back to the late 1800s, when horse-drawn fire equipment could not be easily backed into a bay, Seguin Fire Chief Dale Skinner said. After returning from a call, firefighters would disconnect the horses and physically push the apparatus into the station, he said.
Saturday’s push-in marked a first for Skinner.
“I’ve been doing this almost 36 years and I’ve never received two fire trucks at one time,” he said. “This is a special event.”
His department’s new trucks are 2023 Spartan Pumpers on Metro Star chassis equipped with four riding positions, Skinner said. They carry up to 1,000 gallons of water and feature a pump capacity of 1,500 gallons per minute, he said.
The department ordered the specially designed pumpers two years before recently receiving its delivery, Skinner said.
“We would not be able to do this today without the support of our city council,” he said.
Seguin City Council allocated funding to purchase the vehicles, Seguin Fire Department Assistant Chief Garrick Herbert said. Each truck cost just about $1 million, he said.
The department’s Station 2 and Station 3 will receive a truck apiece, Herbert said. They are replacing engines at those stations built in 2017, as each has a life expectancy of between seven and 10 years, he said.
Seguin Fire Department moves aging vehicles into reserve status and use them sparingly as needed, Herbert said.
The department has another fire engine on order that is expected to be used at the new Fire Station 4, expected to be built within the next two years, the assistant chief said. Additional infrastructure and apparatuses will help the department continue its commitment to the people of Seguin, Herbert said.
“Our organization and our city have put a priority on response to our citizens,” he said. “What that means is we have to have apparatus that’s response ready.”
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