"This is just a thank-you for what we do. We dedicate a lot of hours and meetings to be as up to strength as we can, including for SIRE," Meyers said. "It means a lot to us to get something like this device. We hope it makes a difference, though we hope we don't have to use it at all."

Right now, the department doesn't have space for some crucial equipment like a refill for SCBA tanks. "Before a firefighter goes into a fire or vehicle they must wear their SCBA. If they don't have that we have to stop operations we can't get anything done." To refill those tanks, the department has to utilize Lacy Lakeview, Waco or Bellmead. Heading that far means lost time for the department. The future site he said will not only be a service to the ares they serve but will be a training area too.

PFD getting its own ambulance service has been years in the making, Moellenberg said, and the process began in 2013 when ESD 2 taxpayers approved a 1/2 cent sales tax increase to fund the project.

"This is a direct result of voter support and our strategic planning process," Moellenberg said in a statement. "We created a plan because we saw a clear need in our rapidly growing community, with most of our 8,000 calls a year being medical calls."

When a roofing company building caught fire in McGregor in February. Jonesboro Volunteer Fire Department Chief Bobby Buster said he hopes the department's new tender can help with a problem like that in the future.

Buster said it replaces a 20-year-old, 1,600-gallon tender. Now, Buster said the department has almost double the water to cut running back and forth from a fire in half.