"In the whole southern region, which includes Florida, Georgia and Tennessee, there are only one or two that do what we do," Smeathers said. "So it is very rare."

The Federal Aviation Administration requires all airports with commercial flights to have a 24-hour manned fire station. General aviation airports, which are most, serve private plane operators and do not have the mandate.

Currently, the Owensboro-Daviess County Regional Airport is home to two commercial airlines -- Cape Air and Allegiant. The largest commercial jet that lands at the airport is a 177-passenger Airbus A320. The U.S. military also brings in its Blackhawk helicopters and C-130s, which are four-engine turboprop transport aircraft.

Fire trucks and horses worked alongside each other in New Bern for almost three decades, until the late 1920s. The most famous and beloved was fire horse Fred. He went into service with the Atlantic Company in 1908 and served for seventeen years, including during the Great Fire of New Bern on December 1st, 1922.

The Great Fire of New Bern is legendary. It left the town in ruins. More than a third of New Bern was destroyed and the devastation encompassed 40 city blocks near downtown.

Records show that more than 3,000 people were displaced from their homes. Some community members spent years in tents before they were able to recover fully.

Six years after the Great Fire, the original fire department on Broad Street was constructed to bring the Atlantic and Button companies together under one roof.

He says unlike the old station, they have a safe place to get geared up to go out on a call.

Fire Station No. 8 is also the first station to be built since Station No. 5 was rebuilt at Northwest 53rd Street and Gore Boulevard in 2004, and it will serve as a prototype for other projects. Billy Trammell of the city's engineering department said many features included in Station No. 8 will also be found in the new public safety facility downtown and the new station that will be constructed to replace the current facility at the Lawton-Fort Sill Regional Airport.

Lawton Fire Chief Dewayne Burk called the station "a new chapter in the history of the Lawton Fire Department."