Denton's newest fire engine is a Mean Green machine — literally

“So, a year ago, I sat down with a group of men from UNT and I said, ‘I want amazing fire truck for the national champion basketball team for a parade,’” said Huber, an alumna of University of North Texas and the matriarch of the Rozell family.

She wanted it badly enough that she donated an undisclosed amount of money to get it done.

Denton Fire Department debuted its latest fire engine on Tuesday night in a decidedly Norman Rockwell manner. It chauffeured the newly minted championship UNT men’s basketball team to East Side Denton, a popular downtown bar, for a celebration of their win.

But first came the small parade. Kilt-wearing drummers and a bagpiper led the new truck on a short circuit around the Square before parking at East Side, where hundreds gathered to cheer the athletes and line up for a picture on the new engine.

Huber, who earned her master’s degree and a doctorate at UNT, gave a financial donation to have the newest fire truck in the department to be painted “UNT green” and given the university logo. Once it’s road-ready, the truck will join the fleet at Denton Fire Station No. 3 — nicknamed “the nuthouse.”

Huber recalls that the UNT representatives needed convincing.

“And they rolled their eyes,” Huber said, laughing. “I was determined. I wanted it to happen.”

Huber pressed all the right flesh to move the idea along. She met with Vice President for University Advancement Brandon Buzbee and UNT President Neal Smatresk.

“I said, ‘I want this. My son [Clay Rozell] is [a] captain at the Denton Fire Department, and I want this,’” Huber said.

Huber isn’t the only eagle in the family. Three of her four sons — Scott, Zach and Andrew — studied at UNT. Clay Rozell didn’t attend UNT, but as a captain at the fire department, he was the link between the town-and-gown in Huber’s idea.

With the UNT alumni association on board for a Mean Green fire engine, Huber said she had another stakeholder to talk to: the Denton fire chief.

“I met with the chief. I said, ‘I want this,’” she said. “And here we are a year later with our Mean Green fire truck.”

After the UNT men’s basketball team, who won the National Invitation Tournament in March, boarded the spirit truck (one of the highlights of the parade from downtown Denton Fire Station No. 1 was the unison ”WOOOOAAAAHHH” from the athletes as the engine lurched toward Bell Avenue for its maiden voyage) and greeted fans, Boots was busy taking pictures and remembering all the folks he had to tag for social media.

“This has been in the works for seven years,” Denton Fire Department spokesperson David Boots said.

Spirit fire trucks aren’t unique, but they aren’t widespread either. Boots said there was talk about this kind of project before, but it took Huber stepping forward with the undisclosed gift to make it happen here.

Boots said it took three years to get the UNT spirit truck. The wait was due mostly to the supply chain burps that have disrupted all sorts of consumer goods. The make and model of the new truck — the Enforcer — is produced by one company, Pierce, located in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

While there’s a lot of talk about the pride truck appearing in parades and local events, Boots said it’s not just a show pony. It will be a workhorse like the rest of the fleet. It will respond to fires and traffic accidents, and it will join one of the busiest stations in the fire department.

“It’s a busy station because it’s close to the University of North Texas and the 40,000 or so students who never sleep,” Boots said.

Huber said the truck is the first in the fire department’s fleet to have a vintage-style bell mounted on the front bumper. And the horn plays the UNT fight song?

“That? That might be a rumor,” Boots said.

After its debut on Tuesday, the truck will return to the shop where workers will load it with its tools and hoses. In about three or four weeks, Boots said, the truck will roll into the garage at Fire Station No. 3 and be ready for service.

Buzbee met with dignitaries and alumni at the downtown fire station on Tuesday night. He talked about how now there are children in Denton who, when they think of a fire engine, will remember a certain bright green truck.

“It’s true,” Buzbee said. “And even today, as we bring the truck around the Square and little boys and girls are seeing this truck for the first time, it’ll be a memory made. But even as there are emergencies or needs in the community, as there are parades in the community, UNT is there through Denton Fire Department, UNT is there. That’s something that no amount of media, or whatever that you can buy, replicates.”

As for Huber, the founder and strategic advisor of iTeach Texas, she’s tickled pink — no, make that UNT green — about the fire engine.

“And by the fall, they’ll have models of the fire truck at the bookstores,” she said. “I think it’s just great.”