He said it would allow the county fire department to better protect homes in the county against brush and grass fires. Chief Endsley said more and more new homes were being built in the county that were large ones, 3,000 to 4,000 square feet. He said the new truck included an auxiliary pump on top. Chief Endsley said the Class A pumper could carry 1,000 gallons of water. He called the truck a game changer for the county fire depart. He said the truck would require 90 days to be built. The chassis and cab are pre-built. Chief Endsley said the county would be able to design the back end of the vehicle to be built just the way they want. He said the truck would be the first custom built Class A pumper that the county had ever owned. Chief Endsley said the truck should last 20 years. The cost for the fire truck is $433,000.

Greenville Volunteer Fire Department Chief Clif Powell said voters approved a proposition from the department to purchase a new $650,000 tanker engine.

The vote was held Dec. 13 at the department's annual commissioner election, Powell said. Of the approximate 1,000 taxpayers in the Greenville Fire District, only 28 voted, Powell said. The meeting had been publicized through a legal notice in the Greenville Pioneer.

"It was an overwhelming vote to approve it, 20 people voted yes and 8 voted against it," Powell said.

The new engine will replace an aging, leaking machine taken out of service two years ago, Powell said.

"It's going to be replacing one tanker than went out of service because the tank was about 40 years old and it had ruptured," Powell said. "The truck was a 1994 model but the tank was from the 1970s." Replacing the ruptured tank would cost approximately $100,000, Powell said, but with a 22-year-old chassis and engine, department leaders opted to move for a new engine.

"The life expectancy for an engine is no more than 20 years," Powell said.

Voters approved the proposal for a new engine, the department's first vehicle purchase since the acquisition of a 2007-model ladder truck a decade ago, Powell said.

But while fire district taxpayers will pay for the new machine, Powell said, the purchase will not cause fire district taxes to increase.

It's a brutal environment, with thick forest on the lower slopes, and craggy rock faces and snow fields towards the 4,898-foot (1,493 meters) summit. Even with the Unimog's high ground-clearance, low center of gravity, and extreme approach and departure angles, rescue work will be a stern test for it.

The Unimog is question is powered by a four-cylinder turbo diesel engine producing 218 horsepower (160 kilowatts), and is fitted with a seven-seater cab big enough to take the whole rescue team. The drop-side load bed can be loaded with "rescue modules" equipped for every eventuality, be it extracting passengers from a stranded cable car or searching for avalanche victims. An off-road trailer can be hitched up too, carrying boats, snowmobiles, and other heavy equipment.

Head of the Baden-Wurttemberg mountain rescue service, Lutz Scherer, said: "Emergency operations in difficult terrain are always particularly challenging for the rescue services and their materials. We are therefore very grateful that Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks is providing us with this Unimog. The vehicle is absolutely perfect for our specific requirements and it will help us to help victims in a much more appropriate way."