"With every truck we speck out, we’re enhancing our equipment. We find out what we don’t like about the current truck and we add to it; we make it better," says Eric Scott Bunch, Waynesboro's assistant fire chief.  

Firefighters say they're excited to be able start using this new truck.

The demolition and reconstruction is part of a multi-year plan to replace three outdated fire stations. Hoback approached the residents at their neighborhood meeting at Raleigh Court Presbyterian Church to ask them for their input on the design of the fire station.

 

Hoback has led the construction of three fire stations already in his decade as chief. He said he’s using the same approach this time around: community involvement. He wants representatives from the neighborhoods to provide input to architects so the community can have a fire station that feels integrated with the rest of the neighborhood.

Kelsey said she's received inquiries from across the country about the boxes, including more than 250 calls and emails in one day. The boxes provide complete anonymity for a baby's mother and a silent alarm alerts emergency medical services personnel that the box is in use.  

Four boxes are scheduled for installation in Indiana and Ohio next year, although Kelsey declines to be specific about where.

Before the new Rescue 1 could receive the blessing, however, it had to return from a job.

Dignitaries assembled for the 4 p.m. ceremony at the Franklin Street Fire Station waited until the rescue truck returned from a reported building fire on Terrace Road.

“This piece of equipment isn’t just sitting here - it’s out doing exactly what it was intended to do, to serve and protect the people of the city of Worcester,” City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr. said.

“And it’s the amazing dedicated firefighters ... that make these pieces of equipment come alive every day and be the tools that they need to get the job done that we all expect of them,” Mr. Augustus said.