"I've been around the medical field all my life and my mom is an LPN," said Smith. "I just want to help out in my community and better serve it."

Smith's teacher, Jodi Shirey, tries to give her students a realistic idea of what it takes to be an EMT.

One of the most important tools of that trade is an ambulance and now Shirey's students have one to call their own.

"When we put them in the back of an Ambulance, they're confined just like they are going to work in the real world and that's important," said Shirey.

The ambulance was donated by the Big Island Emergency Crew.

"I knew they had a vehicle that they were going to replace and I expressed interest to them," Shirey said.

The vehicle was built in 1998. It's old for emergency work but Shirey says it's in perfect shape for instructional use.

Town Manager Stephen Crane told Reminder Publications one of the greatest abilities the 78-foot Quint ladder truck gives the department is to put out fires from above with speed and efficiency.

Firefighter and Paramedic Mike Nothe said the Quint has more benefits than a regular ladder truck.

"We're able to get into a lot more tight spaces in town – small driveways,” he explained.

Firefighter and Paramedic Jason Mele said the size of the Quint is a “perfect fit” for Longmeadow.

“There’s a lot of smaller streets in town where trying to maneuver a full-size ladder truck through would be close to impossible, if not impossible,” he added. “Before we had the Quint, we had to rely on mutual aid. Both of our mutual aid ladder trucks would have had a harder time negotiating, particularly the fire on Elmwood [Avenue].”

The new Quint truck, which features a permanently mounted ladder pump that has a flow capacity of 500 to 1,000 gallons of water per minute, replaced a more than 25-year-old fire engine that was sold to a government surplus website for $6,800.

The fire department has been leasing a rescue truck for the past two years.

When they ordered the new rescue truck it cost $600,000, but it would be significantly higher now because of the exchange rate on the loonie.