ALTAMONT — As the Altamont Fire Department celebrates its 125th anniversary, it is looking ahead, welcoming a brand new engine — and the public — to a party at the firehouse on saturday afternoon.

The new rescue pumper — a 2018 Toyne — will arrive at the firehouse on Main Street Friday night.

“It’s a beautiful engine,” said Paul Miller Altamont’s fire chief. He said the celebration couldn’t be scheduled until the engine’s arrival date was known.

Miller described Saturday’s celebration, which will run from 1 to 3 p.m., as a “community event.” He said, “We’ll have free hot dogs, hamburgers, snowcones, and a bouncy-bounce for the kids.”

The department currently has 34 members — all volunteers — and is always looking for more, said Miller.

The department was founded in 1893 after a huge fire in 1866 destroyed a pharmacy and grocery store on what is now Maple Avenue. There was no means to fight the fire as The Enterprise reported at the time: “Efforts were at first made to extinguish the fire, but the utter uselessness of this with the appliances at hand was soon apparent and some of the people endeavored to save what they could from the burning buildings, while another party endeavored to keep the flames from communicating to the adjoining houses. The fire spread rapidly, and all efforts to keep it from reaching the other structures near the store proved fruitless.”

As Enterprise reporter Sean Mulkerrin pointed out in his February retrospective on the department’s 125-year history, the devastating fire made it clear that Altamont needed a hose company and an adequate source of water. To levy taxes, the village of Altamont was incorporated in 1890; it set about constructing a public water system.

In 1893, a referendum was held to approve raising $850 for the purchase of hose and apparatus to extinguish fires.

The Enterprise wrote, “Altamont takes no step back. She does the right thing furnishing the necessary appliances for the convenience and protection of her citizens with a good water plant in operation and the organization of a hose company there need be no fear of loss by fire … NOW let us have a well-organized hose company!”

The village responded by appointing 25 residents to its first hose company.

Altamont’s new fire engine makes the 1893 purchase pale by comparison; it costs $547,000, Miller said, noting that $100,000 came from the state.

He said of the village and its fire department, “We put money away every year for replacement of apparatus.”

The new engine, said Miller, will replace two vehicles — a 30-year-old engine, and a squad truck that had extrication gear, like Jaws of Life to release a person, for example, in a car wreck.

“That will save taxpayers money,” said Miller, “on maintenance and insurance.”

The new engine will have extrication gear, will hold 1,000 gallons of water, and will have a pump that pumps 1,500 gallons per minute, he said.

“It’s a much safer truck,” said Miller, noting that the old engine is open, with firefighters unprotected. “This one is all enclosed,” he said.

“We’ve been planning this for a long time,” said Miller of Saturday’s celebration. “I hope a lot of people come.”