In Wednesday morning's meeting of the Board of Works and Public Safety, attorney Maura Hoff of the firm DeFur Voran — which has been reviewing emergency medical service bids for the city in the weeks since they were received — asked the board to reject the bids.

Hoff said the committee reviewing the bids had determined "none were in the city's best interest at this time."

No details of the bids, other than the names of the bidders, have been released. Hoff said Wednesday that the bids would be made available for public inspection once financial details were redacted.

While the crew was away from the engine assisting with containment of several spot fires, the parked, unattended engine was impacted by spot fires burning outside of containment lines, and sustained major damage. No personnel were injured during the incident.  “Green Sheet” report More Information

The new, custom built apparatus replaces a 2002 truck which McGill said will be still be used as a backup.

The new Rescue Company 1 truck was immediately placed into service following the blessing.

The Division of Fire maintains a fleet of 28 pieces of front line fire apparatus which include pumper trucks, ladder trucks, rescue trucks, a hazardous materials unit (HAZMAT) and a mask service unit (MSU).

Once the tornado passed through, volunteers with the department headed to their building to grab their gear.

“Fire chief came down to the department to pick up the first responder and that’s when he noticed that the glass broken out and it was broken into," Sylvester said.

The department had been broken into sometime before the tornado hit the town. While the person or people did not steal anything major, they did steal tools that are extremely important to the fire department, such as a cell phone. 

The station includes advanced equipment funded by the Fire Service Assessment.

Construction of the station came in under the $4,070,189 budget and ahead of schedule.

“Fire Station 11 was built to be incredibly cost effective and functional; from the lights, floors, countertops, and even the color of the building and roof. The station was designed to reduce energy costs and meet future needs for the next 50+ years,” says Fire Chief Ryan W. Lamb