Last month, the town put out a request for qualifications from engineers and architects for a design study of the 126-year-old building, located at the intersection of Clark Road and Andover Street.

Flanagan said the town has $200,000 in a fund for a building analysis that could lead to a larger, more extensive study of the structure. He said that depending on what the initial analysis says, he will go to Town Meeting in the spring with a proposal to design either a brand-new building at the site or to renovate the existing one.

Those pieces include the possible purchase of two adjacent parcels of land totaling about 6,000 square feet. Town Meeting in 2014 approved spending $200,000 to buy the land. That approval was never acted upon.

At past town meetings, Flanagan said, $200,000 had also been approved for a feasibility study of the existing structure, which is the money he wants to use for the pending architectural analysis.

"Phase 1 is the feasibility study," he said. "Is the building capable of being renovated versus being rebuilt?"

Once the initial study is done, he said, he will go to Town Meeting next spring to seek an additional $300,000 for schematic designs of either a new building or a renovated one.

With a need to provide fire protection for the homes and businesses that were growing quickly around the County Road 42 and Hayes Road intersection, the Lebanon Fire Department was created in 1966. Ordinance 33 took effect in November that year, creating a formal fire department, according to city officials.

When Lebanon became Apple Valley in 1967, those first firefighters shared 16 black rubber fire coats, pull-up rubber boots, rubber gloves, and plastic helmets. The fire station was not much more than a large garage stall in the existing town hall. There was only one fire truck, a General Safety Equipment 1966 Ford pumper. Two firefighters sat in the cab and the rest of the crew rode on the tailboard. Fire calls were made through a multi-ring telephone system, there was one stationary siren in town, and less than 22 calls for fire response were made that first year.

Today, Apple Valley is home to three fire stations. There are 24 firefighters assigned to each station, three assistant chiefs, one fire marshal, a fire inspector, and a full-time fire chief, according to city officials.

Esto VFD has had a banner year for collecting new equipment through more than $350,000 in funding secured from FEMA's Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG) program giving 10,000 small departments that apply for funding each year a way to fund new trucks and equipment.

"Without the AFG grant, 90 percent of departments wouldn't have new stuff," said Murphy.

In addition to the new pumper tanker, the department recently acquired an MSA Evolution 6000 Plus thermal imaging camera, 14 full sets of MSA G1 self-contained breathing apparatus and Hurst Jaws of Life extrication tools.

Engine 4 was delivered by Danny Avera, a sales professional with Deep South Fire Trucks Inc. out of Seminary, Miss. Deep South puts over 100 new fire trucks into service annually and has done business with Esto VFD in the past. Out of four bidders, Deep South won the contract to deliver the right truck a the right price.

Murphy had a hard time letting his "baby" - an aging 1984 fire engine he learned to drive and fight fires on a decade ago - go to a new private owner to make room for the new engine.

Engine 4 is already in service and expected to be a busy engine. Esto VFD has been on about 80 calls this year, with 20 of them in October alone. Murphy is proud the department is now a frontline fully certified fire rescue, an impressive asset for a tiny town of 365 residents.

Of nine firefighters who were injured, five were taken to hospital.

Investigators have recommended there be a review of training for driving during icy conditions. They have also recommended that the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) make arrangements for the gathering and sharing of information on weather that could affect driving conditions.

The accident happened on the B9006 Inverness to Nairn road at about 07:15 while the two crews were going to the aid of two people trapped in wreckage following a road accident.

The first appliance to hit the black ice skidded 180 degrees on the road before it struck a raised grass verge and rotated 360 degrees and landed on its side in the field.

The driver of the second vehicle slowed down, but lost control after passing the point where the first appliance had skidded.

The second fire engine also came off the road and ended up on its side the same field.

Chiaramonte, who has been supportive of the Libertytown Volunteer Fire Department, returned to Nindirí several times and eventually met the mayor -- who also serves as the fire chief -- and visited the local fire station.

Seeing a few thick raincoats, a handful of breathing masks and a 20-year-old ambulance, Chiaramonte was shocked when the mayor told him the town had been without an actual fire truck for some time.

"He said they mostly responded to accidents, like people getting in crashes on motorcycles, but then he said, every once in a while, the volcano goes off and I said, 'Excuse me?'" Chiaramonte recalled with a laugh. "And he goes, 'Yeah, that thing over there,' and he points to this giant, active volcano right next to the town."

Remembering the mayor's unsettling descriptions of volcanic ash that occasionally falls on Nindirí from the nearby Masaya Volcano National Park, Chiaramonte found his chance to make a difference when he learned that the Libertytown station was retiring its 1989 Pierce fire engine after 27 years.

While the truck no longer meets the standards for active service in the United States, the vehicle will still find plenty of work in Nicaragua, said Frederick County Division of Volunteer Fire and Rescue Services Chief Chip Jewell, who is also a captain at Libertytown.

After a fitting send-off at the fire station Nov. 2, Engine 172 was loaded on a trailer for the first leg of its journey, Jewell said. The engine was in Miami as of Friday awaiting the arrival of a shipping barge that will take it the rest of the way to Nicaragua in the next few weeks, Chiaramonte said.

Meanwhile, volunteers back in Libertytown were getting acquainted with their own new engine, a 2016 Pierce model purchased largely thanks to a $382,381 Federal Emergency Management Agency grant, Jewell said.

Further easing the loss of the venerable engine was the acknowledgement that, while it was destined for a far-off assignment, Engine 172 would still be fulfilling its intended purpose of protecting a community.