A fire truck "housing" is an old fire service tradition held when a department welcomes a new addition to its fleet. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue conducted such a ceremony on Friday, June 28, 2002, to introduce its new red and white Pierce Quantum pumper. The new truck, to be assigned to Station 3 at Tropical Park, will be the only rig in the department not painted in MDFR’s regular lime green livery. The red and white engine, in addition to its regular duties, will serve as a rolling memorial to the 343 New York City firefighters who perished at Ground Zero on September 11, 2001. An FDNY emblem graces the rear compartment of the new Engine 3, along with the inscription, “MDFR HONORS FDNY.” Members of New York’s Rescue 2 attended the ceremony. Although quartered in the Borough of Brooklyn, Rescue 2 responded to the World Trade Center attack. And an American flag that flew at the World Trade Center in the weeks prior to September 11th was suspended from two MDFR aerials.

It’s been more than twenty years since MDFR purchased a red fire truck, but Chief Charles U. Phillips assured the gathering that the department has no plans to abandon lime green. Future apparatus deliveries will bear the recognizable Miami-Dade County livery. This one exception was made to honor New York’s Bravest.

At the conclusion of the ceremony, the new state-of-the-art Engine 3, with its gold leaf MDFR emblems, appeared from behind Fire Rescue Headquarters and slowly made its way to the building’s front entrance, where it came face to face with the current Engine 3, a unit that will now be re-assigned.

(Note: The original red Engine 3 was replaced in 2006 by a brand new red Pierce Quantum Pumper. The original red engine is now a spare.)