Fire Chief John Reese said: “We have been working on building (the new station) for 18 months. The old one was 5,000 square feet. This one is 23,000 square feet. We’ve never really had an administrative fire station, and we were missing a lot of things we needed. We didn’t even have a classroom. We go into 4,000 homes a year, and we needed a good place to operate out of.”  

Mayor David Gillock said: “We just want to thank the residents for supporting our safety forces. (Some people don’t know) they also have mold and asbestos in the old station and our guys are living in a mobile trailer. So, we are really appreciative of the support. They have a building now they can be proud of.”

Under BLM's new Rural Fire Readiness program, local fire departments and Rangeland Fire Protection Associations that meet certain requirements may receive wildland fire engines, pumps, hose, chainsaws, hand tools and other items the BLM doesn't need for free.  

“The assistance we receive from our local fire departments and Rangeland Fire Protection Associations is vital to the success of fighting wildland fire in eastern Idaho,” said Joel Gosswiller, BLM Fire Management Officer, Idaho Falls District. “The utilization of the Rural Fire Readiness program gives us the ability to provide additional support in safely responding to wildland fires.”

The trucks feature LED lighting in all their compartments and have 750-gallon water tanks, where the rest of the department's trucks can only hold 500 gallons.  

Henning said both stations occasionally respond as part of an automatic mutual aid agreement with the Tri-Township Fire Department.

"So this gives us more water to fight fires until Tri-Township gets there," Henning said.

"It also has a hard cover for the hose bed, which we never had before; we just had tarps," Henning said. "It's actually a walking service if it needs to be, but it definitely better protects our equipment as well."