Proceeds from the donations will assist the department in purchasing a Lucas 3 Chest Compression System. Speaking on KMA's "Morning Line" program Thursday morning, Red Oak Fire Chief John Bruce says the new equipment is necessary to meet the demands of a growing coverage area.

"Over the course of the years," said Bruce, "our EMS response area has grown substantially. We're kind of bordering about 500 square miles of EMS coverage, and that's assisting area communities."

Orange City voters in 2016 passed a $2.75 million bond issue to help fund the project, which was completed below the originally estimated cost of $3.75 million. The station was expanded by 12,000 square feet. Another 3,800 square feet of the station, which was built in 1973, were renovated so the building would meet national health and safety codes. The renovated and expanded station provides more storage, training and work space and has improved ventilation.

An emergency medical service triage room would be included in the new building. This is the first time a room would be designated to evaluate people's medical conditions if they come to the station.

Denton said many people forgo calling 911 when they have small chest pains or other minor issues, and this new room would give paramedics at the fire station a place to evaluate them.

Now, if anyone comes to the fire station, there is no specific area to evaluate them.

The planned station would have three bays for fire trucks, which would increase its current capacity by one bay. The expansion would allow for future expansion of the number of vehicles they could have.

The Hoover Fire Department will purchase a new fire engine to replace one in Bluff Park instead of buying a new truck to deal with hazardous materials, thanks to a budget amendment passed by the Hoover City Council tonight.

The Fire Department had budgeted $440,000 to buy the new hazardous materials unit in fiscal 2017 but now wants to postpone that purchase to get the new fire engine instead.

Fire officials had hoped to get money in the 2018 budget to buy a new fire engine, but city tax revenues have been coming in lower than expected for 2017, so the mayor did not include any new vehicles in his 2018 budget that was approved by the council last week.

The Fire Department has two fire engines that have more than 110,000 miles on them, but more importantly, more than 11,000 hours of engine usage, Chief Clay Bentley said.