PHOTOS: Just before 9 a.m. Wednesday, Dan Naughton stood atop a 6,000-pound truck holding a bucket of water.
Moments earlier, it had been filled by firefighters from the hose of a smaller truck.
Naughton faced the crowd beneath him, and slowly emptied the bucket into the truck’s 500-gallon tank. As the last droplet trickled out, onlookers cheered, and Naughton – a Palm Beach County Fire Rescue driver – smiled back.
He climbed down from Truck 29, the newest and largest unit in the county’s fleet, and rejoined the crowd to celebrate the vehicle officially entering the service.
“The transfer of water shows the continuation of pride, service, knowledge and tradition,” Palm Beach County Fire Rescue Captain Tom Reyes said. “(We’re) making sure that our original mission continues, and the lessons learned while serving on past apparatus remain with us through the future.”