Bailey said the department can't find replacement parts for the 1966 pumper, which firefighters use to feed water hydrants in downtown Nisswa through charging/pumping water from Nisswa Lake.

The council agreed to buy the fire truck from Custom Fire with a seven-year payment option.

In April, firefighters had 11 emergency medical services calls, five fire alarms, three grass fires and one mutual aid structure fire in Mission Township for a total of 20 calls.

The fire department has two new Pierce Quantum Type 1 Pumpers. The fire trucks are capable of pumping 1500 gallons of water per minute.

The new trucks are expected to last more than 20 years.

Crews at the station found heavy smoke inside the front bay at about 1:02 p.m, Assistant Chief Sharon Davis said. They were able to start the truck and pull it outside away from the other equipment.

Davis said crews, including Cahokia Fire Department, worked for about 15 minutes to put out the fire at 3201 Camp Jackson Road.

A larger, 6,000-square-foot station will include a meeting room, where all of their firefighters can gather at once, as well as more room for additional firefighters and vehicles, he said. The goal is for the building to be able to serve the community for several decades, he said.

Final designs for the station are set to be complete in July, and county and state officials will have to approve the plans before construction can begin in September. Work on the building is expected to last a year, allowing it to open well in advance of work on I-69, Pell said.

The fire department agreed to contribute about $1 million in addition to the money the Indiana Department of Transportation is paying for the new fire station. Not knowing for sure if the state was going to cover the cost of a new station, the fire department had been saving money to do the project themselves, and will pay its costs from savings, Pell said.

According to Master Sgt. Marcos Martinez, the staff noncommissioned officer for ARFF, this exercise was important because it allowed cooperating units to improve response times, validate standard operating procedures and achieve annual training requirements. “During the exercise, we took samples from all of the dry filter units and they came back positive for Tularemia,” said Lance Cpl. Luis Da Luz, a hazardous material entry team technician with ARFF. “It is important that we know how to respond to incidents like this because we are very close to the San Diego population.” Marines with ARFF’s HAZMAT response team collected samples from the dry filter units and soil samples in the affected area before sending them to a lab where they tested positive for Tularemia, a disease often used in bioterrorism attacks as it affects animals and humans. This exercise gave Marines and first responders a chance to rehearse and evaluate their incident command protocols, first responder immediate actions, communication protocols, incident command interface with an emergency operations center and orchestrate cooperation between MCAS Miramar’s first responders.