The city of Jenkinsburg will soon replace its 22-year-old fire truck with a newer model. To help Butts County Fire Chief Mike Wilson search for a new fire truck, the Jenkinsburg City Council approved a purchase order during its May 23 meeting.

“The life expectancy is about 20 years for a fire truck,” Wilson told the council. “There are used trucks out there, and having a P.O. number will hold a vehicle for two weeks and give us time to go and look at it.”

The chief hopes to find a demo engine like the one Butts County recently purchased for the Indian Springs Fire Station.

Jenkinsburg Mayor Eddie Ford said, under an agreement with the county, the city provides the station, repairs, utilities, and the fire truck and Butts County fuels and maintains the truck.

“(The county) mans the station 24 hours a day. I don’t want that to go away. It’s one of the biggest advantages we have had in this part of the county,” Ford said. “I feel like we are doing our part and the county is doing their part. Our little town is not abandoned and emergency services can get (to residents). We need to do our part and this is our part. It means a lot to me to have this fire station handy to our small community.”

Until a new fire truck can be purchased, the existing truck will continue to be used to meet the area’s needs. “It’s sufficient now as far as the water it carries and the pump,” Ford said. “It’s just 22 years old.”

Freightliner says it will lay off about 800 workers in North Carolina as part of an international reduction in workforce.

David Giroux with Freightliner's parent company, Daimler Trucks North America told local media outlets that about 600 workers are being laid off at the plant in Mount Holly on July 1.

The company will let about 200 workers go at a parts and logistics plant in Gastonia on June 24.

Giroux said the layoffs should be temporary.

Daimler expects a 15 percent drop in sales of medium- and heavy-duty trucks, which are made in Mount Holly.

Mount Holly City Manager Danny Jackson said he's disappointed by the decision.

The vice president of the Mount Holly chapter of the United Autoworkers union would not talk about the layoffs.