North Yakima Fire Department Station No. 1 was home to the first fully mechanized fire department in the Western United States, according to fire historians. When it was built in 1912, the department was using gasoline-powered apparatus at a time when other fire companies, including Seattle’s, were using literal horsepower to move pumpers and hose wagons.

Prior to 1905, North Yakima’s fire department was an all-volunteer unit, starting first as a bucket brigade and turning professional in 1905, a year after 22 volunteers walked off the job in a dispute with the city. A new cadre of volunteers was recruited, but the city decided to make the department fully professional.

Matthew Helkey, a 15-year-old Bishop Diego Garcia High School student, has spent the last four years in Boy Scout Troop 1 of the Los Padres Council.

With the help of Troop 1, Helkey fixed up the Santa Barbara City Fire Department’s Fire Station 7, building a picnic table and placing it next to the station’s barbecue area. Helkey also did some landscape renovation around the station, which recently suffered storm damage.

A report by CFD states the incident happened near the 800 block of Savannah Highway shortly after 1 p.m. which caused the truck to strike the station.

"CFD members were in the station and responded to the incident along with Charleston County EMS and the Charleston Police Department. One patient from the vehicle was subsequently transported to the hospital," CFD officials said.

To pay for the new station, the city – which owns all three firehouses OCFA operates out of in Buena Park – sold bonds, which will be paid back over the next 20 years at an annual cost of $750,000, officials said.

The new, single-story facility will have dorms, administration offices and upgraded amenities – but no fire pole, which the old station had, but rarely used. New showers and locker rooms will serve both genders.