After falling into disrepair and suffering a seized engine, a group of current and former firefighters had the historic vehicle brought back home. They are now urging the community to get behind as they work to restore it.

The engine holds a special place in the heart of Rod Hyatt, who served at Witney Fire Station in the 1970s and is a trustee of the new charity, the Witney Fire Brigade Heritage Trust.

A blossoming cherry tree down the street from the station pushed a live and neutral power line together, which resulted in an electrical short at the power pole that fed back to the station, causing the fire.

Thanks to a recent $20,721 grant from Firehouse Subs, the Terrebonne fire department purchased four new self-contained breathing apparatuses that provide its wearers with protection and breathable air while in the line of duty.

“These new packs that we purchased with that grant are definitely going to be a big help,” Bumm said. “They’ll give something for our first-run guys to use when they get on the scene of a fire until backup arrives.”

This makes up the entire front-line fleet, according to a news release from the office of fire chief Rick Ennis.

All six vehicles were custom built to the department's specifications, according to the news release.

Voters approved renewal of the one-eighth-cent fire sales tax in November 2014, which funded the project.

Gauthier says between 85-90% of their calls are EMS related. Saturday morning, CBS-58 rode along, as they left the station at 30th and Locust and bounced from call to call. We watched them revive an unconscious diabetic, and help calm down a man who was having trouble breathing. One thing is clear: There's a lot more to being a Milwaukee firefighter, than just fighting fires.