The grant was used to purchase a slip-on unit that was added to a 5-ton excess military truck.

The Department of Defense Firefighter Property Program, within the Texas A&M Forest Service system, provided the slip-on.

Chief Allen McWhirter of West Lake Limestone VFD says the slip-on will be used to knock down grass fires in their growing wildland interface, farming, and ranching community.

The Meridian Rural Fire District will pay up to $1.5 million for the new fire station’s operational costs over the first year or so, including firefighters’ wages and benefits. The district made this offer when the city considered pushing back construction to 2019.

There was some urgency to get the new station built because Meridian has only one fire station south of Interstate 84. This leads to longer emergency response times in that part of town, according to the fire department’s 2016 report.

Meridian last built a fire station nine years ago for $163 per square foot, Meridian Fire Chief Mark Niemeyer told City Council in July. Current costs, he said, are closer to $250 per square foot. The new station will tentatively be 12,580 square feet.

In July, the city estimated that the new station would cost $4.7 million in capital costs, including $3.15 million in construction, $314,500 for architectural design and $744,500 for a new fire engine.

These capital costs are eligible to be paid for by impact fees, which are generated from new development.