The Pine-Strawberry Fire District’s house-built wildland fire truck returned home from five weeks of firefighting duty on the Inyo Fire and within hours was dispatched to another fire in California.

The truck and crew are now assigned to the Ferguson Fire in the Sierra National Forest north of the Yosemite. It is one of the three largest fires burning in the state, said Fire Chief Gary Morris.

Firefighters are using the district’s new wildland fire truck, a 2017 Dodge 5500 crew cab that is outfitted with a 500-gallon water tank along with a 250-gallon-per-minute pump.

The fire engines were delivered from Bradenton, Fla. Firefighters will be trained on the new engines during the next few weeks. Burgasser expects both engines to be in service within six weeks.  

The engines also have separate compartments outside of the cab for turnout gear, which Burgasser said is important to reduce a firefighter’s exposure to harmful carcinogens, which could make them more susceptible to cancer.  

The new engines have top-mount pumps, which allows the pump operator a bird’s eye view when combating a fire. Other engines have side-mounted pump controls, which can make it difficult to see the fire and know how much water is needed.

While the Department of Natural Resources and U.S. Coast Guard play critical roles in keeping the water safe for all, not all of the local municipalities are able to get to an emergency on the county’s western shores as quickly as Ephraim. 

The Austin Fire Department has already renovated 25 stations over the past 15 years. This is phase six and the last fire stations that need renovations.

"When you are remodeling an old building like this, there is a lot of rehabbing that goes on, sometimes wiring has to be completely replaced, sometimes plumbing has to be completely replaced," said Assistant Chief Aaron Woolverton.

These renovations aren't just a matter of convenience. They are a necessity for a firefighter's health.

"Firefighters are exposed to a lot of things that the general public aren't. Having a facility where they can get cleaned up as quickly as possible is in our best interest and theirs, long-term health-wise," said Woolverton.

Ambulances and fire trucks have to be customized in order to fit through the station’s bay doors. Water is leaking through the building’s floors. The structure doesn’t even have a sprinkler system.

“It’s outlived its usefulness,” Brunswick fire Chief Ken Brillant said.

Constructed around 1919 to house horse-drawn firefighting equipment, the building is not handicapped accessible, is not code compliant and lacks a fire protection system or outside fire escape, according to a memo Brillant drafted for the town council.