Nearly 11 years after an embezzlement case forced it to file bankruptcy, the Waco Volunteer Fire Department accepted delivery last Thursday of a new, custom-built fire engine. Following a tradition dating back to horse-drawn, steam-powered engines, volunteers pushed the engine back into the fire station bay with their own strength.
The $290,000 truck was purchased with a $174,000 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and a $116,000 loan from People’s Bank of Madison County. The department had finally paid off the loan on its modern fire station, valued at $200,000, and the bank used it as collateral, Waco VFD Assistant Chief Jason Rawlins said.
The volunteers respond to nearly 150 structure fires annually, Rawlins said. But since it also began responding to automobile fires 18 months ago, the number of calls in a year has risen to about 200, Rawlins said.