Tamid1: 4
מִי שֶׁזָּכָה לִתְרֹם אֶת הַמִּזְבֵּחַ הוּא יִתְרֹם אֶת הַמִּזְבֵּחַ, וְהֵם אוֹמְרִים לוֹ: ”הִזָּהֵר שֶׁמָּא תִגַּע בַּכְּלִי עַד שֶׁתְּקַדֵּשׁ יָדֶיךָ וְרַגְלֶיךָ מִן הַכִּיּוֹר; וַהֲרֵי הַמַּחְתָּה נְתוּנָה בַמִּקְצוֹעַ, בֵּין הַכֶּבֶשׁ לַמִּזְבֵּחַ, בְּמַעֲרָבוֹ שֶׁל כֶּבֶשׁ”.  אֵין אָדָם נִכְנָס עִמּוֹ, וְלֹא נֵר בְּיָדוֹ. אֶלָּא מְהַלֵּךְ לְאוֹר הַמַּעֲרָכָה. לֹא הָיוּ רוֹאִין אוֹתוֹ וְלֹא שׁוֹמְעִין אֶת קוֹלוֹ, עַד שֶׁשּׁוֹמְעִין קוֹל הָעֵץ שֶׁעָשָׂה בֶן קָטִין מוּכְנִי לַכִּיּוֹר, וְהֵן אוֹמְרִים: ”הִגִּיעַ עֵת!”  קִדֵּשׁ יָדָיו וְרַגְלָיו מִן הַכִּיּוֹר; נָטַל מַחְתַּת הַכֶּסֶף וְעָלָה לְרֹאשׁ הַמִּזְבֵּחַ, וּפִנָּה אֶת הַגֶּחָלִים הֵילָךְ וְהֵילָךְ, וְחָתָה מִן הַמְאֻכָּלוֹת הַפְּנִימִיּוֹת, וְיָרַד. הִגִּיעַ לָרִצְפָּה, הָפַךְ פָּנָיו לַצָּפוֹן; הָלַךְ לְמִזְרָחוֹ שֶׁל כֶּבֶשׁ כְּעֶשֶׂר אַמּוֹת. צָבַר אֶת הַגֶּחָלִים עַל גַּבֵּי הָרִצְפָּה רָחוֹק מִן הַכֶּבֶשׁ שְׁלֹשָׁה טְפָחִים, מָקוֹם שֶׁנּוֹתְנִין מֻרְאוֹת הָעוֹף וְדִּשּׁוּן מִזְבֵּחַ הַפְּנִימִי וְהַמְּנוֹרָה.
The one chosen to remove ash from the Altar would [go to] remove the ash, and they would say to him: “Be careful not to touch the utensil until you sanctify your hands and feet from the Laver; and behold, the shovel is placed in the corner, between the ramp and the Altar, west of the ramp.”  No person entered with him, and [there was] no lamp in his hand. Rather, he walked by the light of the pyre. [The Kohanim] neither saw him nor heard the sound of his [footsteps], until they heard the sound of the wood that Ben Katin fashioned into a wheel for the Laver, and they would say: “The time has come!”  He sanctified his hands and feet from the Laver; he took the silver shovel and ascended to the top of the Altar, and he cleared the coals to this side and to that side, and then scooped from the innermost consumed [coals], and he descended. [When] he reached the floor, he would turn his face to the north; he walked to the east of the ramp about ten amos. He piled the coals upon the floor at a distance of three handbreadths from the ramp, the place where they would deposit the crop of the bird [olah] and the ashes of the Inner Altar and [of] the Menorah.