Los Alamos Fire Department Welcomes Three New Engines With Push-In Ceremonies

Three new fire engines rolled into active service with the Los Alamos Fire Department this week, each welcomed through a traditional push-in ceremony at its assigned station. The first confirmed ceremony brought Engine 3 to White Rock Fire Station 3 at 129 N.M. 4 on Monday, March 16, at 2 p.m., with members of the public and community partners invited to attend.

Fire Chief Erik Litzenberg offered direct credit for making the purchase possible: "We sincerely thank LANL for their support in making this important investment possible." The acknowledgment points to Los Alamos National Laboratory as a key partner in the acquisition, though the department has not publicly detailed the dollar amount or structure of that support.

The department describes the three new units as state-of-the-art vehicles incorporating the latest technology while addressing modern health and safety standards for firefighters. LAFD expects them to serve for 15 to 20 years, covering Los Alamos County, the national laboratory campus, and surrounding areas.

Push-in ceremonies carry weight in the fire service that goes back well before the era of diesel engines. The tradition traces to the days of horse-drawn apparatus, when crews would physically push their rigs back into the station house after returning from a call. The modern version preserves that ritual as a formal welcome for new apparatus entering a department's fleet.

The three new engines arrive as the county also moves forward on broader fire infrastructure improvements. The Fire Station 4 replacement project at 4401 Diamond Drive is currently in the design phase following the County Council's decision last November to build a new facility adjacent to the existing structure. A public meeting on that project was held March 6 at the LAFD Administrative Offices at 999 Central Avenue, and the project is expected to go before the Planning and Zoning Commission in April for a combined minor zone map amendment and re-plat application. Community members with questions about the Station 4 project can contact Project Manager Sobia Sayeda at lacpw@lacnm.us.

Details on the push-in ceremonies for the two remaining engines, including station assignments, dates, and times, had not been publicly confirmed as of publication.