Delivery to Roanoke Rapids is expected around 1 p.m. Friday, Deputy Chief Mike Clements said this afternoon.

But the big ceremony will be May 31 when the new E-One Aerial is christened by other fire departments in the area. The wet down ceremony and an open house will be held from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Fire Station 1, which is located on the avenue.

Following the ceremony the Fridays in the Park concert series with Eyes of Emiline will begin in Centennial Park.

Delivery of the truck and the wet down ceremony the following week will be a huge day for the department, Clements said. “It’s an exciting day. It doesn’t happen often. The last truck we bought was a 1999.”

 The ceremony next Friday will mark a new tradition for the city fire department, which will be held on the front ramp of the fire station. “I’ve never witnessed one before,” Clements said of the wet down. “It’s a tradition in other departments. We’ve watched YouTube videos of them. It was the suggestion of one of our lieutenants.”

Weldon and Davie have already committed to participating in the ceremony and the department is waiting on word from two other departments.

Following the ceremony the new truck will be backed into the bay that will serve as its home — older trucks were physically pushed into their bays as part of the ceremony, Clements said.

Light refreshments will be served during the open house.

After the pomp the fire department will get busy stocking truck with equipment and each shift will spend three days in June in training sessions with E-One.

The truck replaces what was best described as an ailing KME, which had problems nearly upon delivery.

A truck committee of city firefighters planned the truck they wanted. “It’s going to be more maneuverable and a little better to drive and get around,” Clements said.

The committee, which consisted of Clements, Ricky Dickens, Jason Patrick, Kenneth Hollowell, Chris Horvath, Josh Sparks and former firefighter Michael DeBlois, made all the major decisions. “The majority are the ones who will work on the truck. They determined the size of the engine, the capacity of the pump. The committee was responsible for putting the truck together from the ground up.”

The truck will continue with the tradition of carrying the Roanoke Rapids High School Yellow Jackets logo on it, Clements said.

“We’re very excited about the apparatus,” fire Chief Stacy Coggins said. “We’re grateful to the committee that spent all this time planning the truck and grateful to the citizens and council. We think it will last a long time and do a great job.”