Two fire trucks from Lane County Fire Defense were ransacked – losing equipment such as an oxygen tank, a firefighter’s bag, a flat-headed axe and a firefighter jacket.

Fortunately, some of that equipment was found dumped nearby, enough to allow the crews to make it out to the fire line.

The new 2017 KME Kovatch truck was sitting outside of the Walnut Hill station, beside the outdated 1988 model it was replacing. The truck is a basic rescue pumper truck, with a water pump and hose on it.

Division Chief Richard Lemocks talked about the process behind acquiring a new fire truck.

"We used it to purchase a skid unit for a brush truck that we are in the process of building right now," Goodman Area Fire Protection District Chief Keith Estes said. "The unit itself cost $9,500. Obviously we had to pay more than the grant, but that is a good thing."

The grant received was the Missouri Department of Conservation's VFA (Volunteers Firefighters Assistance program), a 50/50 matching grant program. Applications are sent out to the departments, they are filled out by the fire departments and sent back in with what they would like to use the grant for.

"They struggle nationwide," Young said. "It's really difficult to find the funds to buy new equipment. We get $50 a year per household and $100 for business. That is enough money to keep gas in the trucks and maintain basically. Our department, like others, has no money for equipment. In saying that, with volunteer fire departments, the equipment gets older and older and older until something big happens."

"With the addition of this pumper we will have a backup pumper available during times of needs which will enhance our fleet and ensure the availability of engines for the protection of our citizens," he said in a letter to the mayor.

After years of putting off vehicle purchases, the department will be short a fire truck as one of them is out of service for maintenance for other reasons. Desmarais said he was calling around to other departments to seek help in case he needed to borrow a fire truck and learned West Springfield was willing to sell a used 2000 pumper truck for $12,000.