The 1971 wildland/brush fire truck has traveled to about 250 to 300 calls in the agency’s service area and has about 8,000 miles on it. Everything on it is original.

“It’s served its purpose,” said Fire & Rescue Board President Irvin Dailey.

On Wednesday, the department was one of 43 nonprofit community agencies to receive a total of $637,290 in new grants during the Community Foundation of the Dan River Region’s grants reception at Ballou Recreation Center.

Arnold firefighters have performed exercises at the J-4 Rocket Engine Test Facility in which they performed a 260-foot vertical lift of a simulated victim using rescue ropes and a power winch.  The power winch, which was purchased specifically for that operation, safely hoisted a 165-pound rescue manikin out of the J-4 shaft.

“The winch allows firefighters to raise or lower a victim quickly and safely, and because it’s portable, the winch can be set-up wherever it’s needed. It also has built-in safeguards to help ensure the victim’s safety during rescue operations.”

A similar exercise was also performed during the RC Cooler renovations at the Aeropropulsion Systems Test Facility, in which the fire team used a crane to raise a simulated victim out of the cooler and then lowered the manikin to the ground with rescue ropes and a Stokes litter or rescue basket.

This is the department's third pumper and the new truck can hold 1,000 gallons of water, with a pumping capacity of 1,500 gallons per minute, according to Fire Chief Gary Bird.

The new truck cost about a half a million dollars and will replace an old engine as well as an old reserve engine.

A Type 1 engine can go to everything from wildfires to rescues and other incidents and will be an overall better fit for the community.

"The engine is lower profile and its angle of approach and departure will make it much more able to access areas that are difficult to access with older engines," said David Hawks, the Paradise Fire Chief.