Dawson County Fire Station 3 officially christened its new Engine 3 and retired the old firetruck in a ceremony dating back to the early days of fire service in the United States. The old Engine 3, a firetruck built in 1998, retired its duties after firefighters at the station used its hose to wet down the new Pierce Saber firetruck Aug. 19 during a ceremonial Wet Down and Push In tradition. “These rituals go back to the 1800s when we had horse drawn pumpers and were used throughout the fire service,” said Fire Chief Danny Thompson. “The process behind the wet down was once they returned from a call with the horses, they used the water to wet the horses down to cool them down.”