New Miami to continue longtime ‘Fire Truck Santa’ tradition

Firefighters dole out candy and fruit, typically an orange and apple, to people of all ages the Saturday before Christmas. This year, the event falls out a week early.

“We moved it back to give people more time to get ready for Christmas,” said Assistant Fire Chief Tim Trent, who said the effort started at least in the 1940s, if not the 1930s.

It launched with area sanitation workers carrying out the effort, then firefighters eventually took over the effort,

“Everybody looks forward to ‘Fire Truck Santa,’ as they call it,” Trent said. ” That’s the one thing that we give back to the village for supporting us.”