"So we conducted three separate studies," says Stephen Rice, an associate professor of human factors at Embry-Riddle and one of the study's authors. "We found that about ... half of 1,000 US adults are significantly less willing to ride in the driverless ambulance, even when they would receive care from two paramedics instead of one."

"And quite a few of them are very negative about that and would absolutely refuse."

Voters in 2015 and 2016 at both Town Meeting and the ballot box approved the construction of a $17 million fire station at 4 Fairgrounds Road, but the project came in $142,000 over budget, and the Finance Committee last year rejected a Board of Selectmen request to transfer from the general fund enough money to make up the shortfall.

Firefighters plan to move to one of the city's three other fire stations while repairs are made to station 22.

"I don't know what we would have done without the assistance of other fire departments within the county and the state, as well as the help of the National Guard," said Putney Volunteer Fire Department Chief Shawn Hightower. "It ran us ragged. It just about depleted this small station. We're grateful for emergency funding to offset some costs, but last fall just goes to show how important our small fire departments are and how badly volunteer firefighters are still needed."

The 2015 audit, obtained by The News Journal, showed that poor record keeping, insufficient controls and outdated tracking systems could put the department at risk of "undetected theft and loss, unexpected shortages of critical items, and unnecessary purchases of items already on hand."

Auditors tried to find 11 fixed assets from the fire department's inventory lists. Seven were not present in their assigned location, the audit said. None of them could be traced to the finance department's fixed asset list.