Commissioners unanimously approved a total of $75,000 in contributions for the Limestone, Washington Lands and Boggs Run volunteer fire departments during their regular meeting Tuesday.

According to county Administrator Betsy Frohnapfel, the commission puts aside $25,000 each year for any department purchasing a new truck.

On average, the trucks in question range from $250,000 to $400,000 in price.

A study commissioned by county officials that was made public Tuesday says the California High-Speed Rail Authority's plan to send Houston Avenue either over or under the rail alignment will cause access issues for fire trucks and other emergency vehicles needing to access Houston from the station.

Fire Chief Patrick Samuels made the request in the form of a presentation at council's April 18 meeting, citing the need to buy a new fire truck to replace the Department's 1996 fire engine that often does not function. The old engine has become mostly unreliable, because its pump will sometimes malfunction during a fire, Samuels said.

"Three years ago, we started a process by which to pay off every truck we owe, with the expectation that once we got all our apparatus paid for we would start looking at a new engine," Samuels told council.

He reminded the council that the department had talked about the plan during last year's budget hearings. The old engine they hope to replace has a 750-gallon tank that pumps 1,250 gallons per minute; the proposed new engine holds 1,000 gallons and pumps 1,500 gpm. Another good feature is that the proposed truck is about 10 feet shorter than the current engine, meaning it would fit better in the fire station.

Battalion Chief Mark Starnes said these new fire trucks are some of the most updated trucks a department could have.

"What it'll do is just make our response much more efficient," Starnes said. "We'll still respond with the same amount of apparatus with the certain amount of calls we're going to, but it just will allow us to get on the scene. One truck will have a little more equipment, each truck will have a little more equipment allowing us to do more things."