"This is a '96 Pierce Dash, they call it. It's a top mount pump which is a safety feature," Courtney pointed out. The truck hauls 750 gallons of water.

"It's a 1,500 gallon a minute pump so it's got plenty pumping capacity," said Courtney.

“You know when 9-11 happened we all wanted to rush and go help, but that wasn't practical, so this truck became the hands of the Louisiana spirit,” State Fire Marshal Butch Browning said.  

18 years later, the Spirit of Louisiana is set to ride off into the sunset. Now with more than 60,000 miles, it's time for it to find a permanent home.

“We got to memorialize not only 9-11, not only the 343 New York City firefighters, but the history of this truck and how it's gone back and forth between two states,” Browning said.

"This is the 2nd Fire Engine struck on I-57 in the past 2 weeks in addition to the 2 fatalities involving State Troopers on Chicago Area Expressways," the Facebook post said.  

No firefighters were injured, however, the driver of the vehicle that hit the firetruck was taken to the hospital for injuries.

This lime green fire fighting machine is the latest tool for the Eugene-Springfield fire's airport crew. The 62,000 pound truck is specially designed for airport emergencies.

“It's different fire fighting than it would be in town,” said Sven Erik Wahlroos, the captain of Eugene-Springfield fire. “So we have specialized equipment, specialized training to deal with emergencies here on airport property.”