"We have a strong relationship with our local fire departments, so we are very pleased to help them stay well-equipped," Dean Piper, maintenance department manager at Georgia-Pacific's Bowling Green Dixie facility, said in a news release. "These grants show our gratitude for their selfless dedication."

The grant will go toward the replacement of full-body protective gear that no longer meets standards set by the National Fire Protection Association. Each set costs more than $2,000.

"This grant will improve the safety of firefighters by providing lighter and better protection," fire Chief Bob Skipper said in a news release. "It will help us stay on track with our five-year master plan to invest in a new station near the Georgia-Pacific facility."

This year, Georgia-Pacific awarded $170,000 in grants to fire departments for equipment critical to firefighters' safety.

Fire Chief Brain Brasington brought the issue to the fire board, which is comprised of residents from Stanton and Douglass, Evergreen and Sidney townships.

"We had it over 20 years, and it had over 1 million miles," Brasington said. "The motor was getting weak, it was leaking oil, and it was old and wasn't complaint."

The cost of the new/used truck is $133,000 and will replace the 30-year-old tanker, which served a former life as a coast-to-coast semi before being bought by the Stanton Community Fire Department. Etankers, a Grand Ledge company that rebuilds and repurposes firetrucks, is currently working on converting an old cement truck chassis into a tanker-pumper.

The city of Stanton and Douglass, Evergreen and Sidney townships will each pay a quarter of the bill. Until last November, the approximately $33,850 cost wasn’t feasible without Sidney Township passing a fire millage.

As for the old firetruck, the Stanton Community Fire Department sold it for $5,000 to be rebuilt once more.

Fire Chief Jim Golden tells ABC 33/40 the property owner donated the truck to the city.

"This truck is very special to us. We want to preserve this piece of our community and our fire department's history," Golden said. "We're very fortunate and very blessed to get the opportunity to get this 65 year old fire truck, have it restored, and have it so the community can embrace it and preserve a piece of our community's history." he added.

A local company, Vini's Hot Rod's in Alabaster, has offered to restore the engine, but it's going to be a costly endeavor. Golden says no taxpayer dollars will be used for the restoration. Instead, the fire department has set up a GoFundMe page to collect donations.

The department presented a $38.9 million spending plan for the fiscal year that begins March 1, about a 1.9 percent increase from this year, to aldermen on Monday night.

The estimated $1.2 million needed to buy the two new engines would come from the capital fund, not the city's general coffers. Money from a new proposed 4 percent tax on natural gas would go toward purchasing them, as well as some vehicles for the public works and police departments.

In addition, the fire department is no longer using two of three emergency vehicles bought in 2012 and 2013 to respond to medical-related calls, Helmerichs said, which was their intended purpose. The trucks are not equipped with water or fire hoses.

"For us to use them efficiently, we'd have to hire more people," Helmerichs said. "We cannot replace our engine companies with those."

In addition to discussion of the department's spending plan, aldermen asked about locations of firehouses and the most recent round of recruitment.