Through the Rural Volunteer Fire Department Assistance Program,volunteers were able to obtain a Stewart Stevenson cargo truck and convert it to a firefighting apparatus by painting it a non-military color, adding side rails and the slip-on unit with foam capability making it service-ready, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service news release.

“It’s a great benefit for us. What it does is allows us to know specifically in our community the individual or individuals with special needs,” Chief KT Freeman said. “So, when an emergency comes in it is in our database.”

Freeman said the database will save time for first responders, thus saving lives. When there is an emergency, a dispatcher can give the information about the special need to the emergency teams while they are still en route.

The memorial number nicely coincides with the $4.3 million project’s location on the odd-numbered side of the street.

Construction workers frenetically buzzed about the building’s interior during an early March visit, trying to meet a mid-April move-in deadline. Sheets of drywall were being affixed to the walls of the building’s large double-bay doors where vehicles will be stored, and final touches were being made to the top floor where 11 firefighters will live and work in shifts.

The new fire station has been a work in progress since at least April 2015 when design work began. Construction started in April 2016 and the station is slated to be open for business May 1.

Trooper J Brown said Beshears said he failed to see a westbound car. Beshears clipped the side of the car, lost control and impacted a stationary fire truck in the parking lot of the Warrensville Fire Department.