KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Several community members gathered to help Rural Metro push in their new fire truck.

The new engine, which will be stationed in the Gibbs Community in North Knox County, will help better serve the community as it is growing. To dedicate the new engine, it was ceremoniously pushed into the fire station, signifying it officially going into service. Rural Metro crew members and the community joined forces to push the 48,000-pound fire truck in.

“There’s lots of tradition in the fire service, so there are a lot of traditional things that we do. This push-in is a traditional thing that we’ve done here, as well as in other parts of the country. The neat part was we had community people that came and helped do the push-in as well, not just us,” said Jeff Bagwell, Public Information Officer for Rural Metro. “It means a lot to us to know that the people actually care and, and understand and want to be involved in what goes on in your community.”

Bagwell added that the crews that work with the new truck will likely give it a name as they train with it and get to know how to best work with the truck.

With a price tag of around $900,000 according to Rural Metro, the new engine and its equipment are replacing an older truck. The older truck is being given to a station that runs fewer calls.

“This engine has a bigger pump than what the last one did. It’s newer, therefore all things newer are more reliable. So it’ll provide better service for the community,” said Jeff Bagwell, Public Information Officer for Rural Metro.

He added that the funding for the truck and its equipment came from money gained from memberships and did not use any taxpayer funds.