The 1977 Mack is “well past its life,” said Fire Chief John McLoughlin. “But we took really good care of it for 38 years. Everyone has always loved this truck.”

The vehicle had no trade in value, but the FDNY uses similar trucks for funeral details, he said.

“We knew somebody was going to be interested in it, but we didn’t want it to go to a collector or to scrap,” McLoughlin said. One of the crew discovered that the FDNY needed another truck for its funeral processions and it was decided that’s where it should roll.

The only roadblock was that, for legal reasons, the truck could not be donated directly by the borough because municipal property must be put up for auction, according to council members, who said they had initially wanted to donate the vehicle.

“We bought it for $8,500 of our own money — we all chipped in,” McLoughlin said of his crew. “We were willing to go to $16,000, but luckily we didn’t have to go that high.” They were up against one other bidder, and he pulled out at $7,500. “It still looks like new. We wouldn’t want to give it to anyone for frontline firefighting because it’s not deemed reliable for that.”

The truck is simple standard shift, which is difficult to drive and lacks seatbelts or computerized equipment that is standard for firefighting vehicles these days.

The truck was formerly known as Rapidan Tanker 10. It was purchased new in 1999 and was retrofitted with cedar panels in the compartments by one of the Rapidan members. As members of Rapidan and Climax worked to transfer equipment from Climax’s old pumper it was said that the truck had come from a good home and was going to a good home.

It was a proud day for both departments, as well as an emotional one, as the chiefs of the two departments demonstrated when the group came together for a special moment in Climax’s station. Chief Mike Smith of Rapidan presented a picture of the truck taken the day it was purchased and a Pierce emblem to display with the picture to Chief Tim Smith of Climax.

The five-minute clip, filmed from the dash of a fire engine, shows the vehicle driving through parched countryside as smoke billows above it.

As the fire engine travels along the road, visibility gradually worsens and the fire truck is forced to stop behind another fire engine.

About two minutes into the video a huge wall of flames can be seen moving towards the trucks from the right-hand side of the road.

'Here it comes! Here it comes!' a firefighter says desperately as it draws nearer. 

An artist’s rendering of the 5,110-square-foot fire station called “Vicksburg Fire Department Station 3,” shows a brick building with a metal roof and three bays for vehicles that will open on Berryman Road. According to the bid specifications and architect’s floor plans, the third bay is optional if the project bids are underbudget. The extra bay would add an additional 1,360 square feet to the station.

Atkins said plans for the station include having a pumper, aerial truck, rescue truck and ambulance.

City officials have discussed building a new station in east Vicksburg for several years to have better and quicker access to accidents on Interstate 20, the multi-story hotels in the Clay Street area and Merit Health River Region Medical Center, which falls under the fire department’s responsibility.