Steve Sheorn is on the Board of Commissioners for Lugoff Fire and Rescue. He knows first hand how hard cancer is to fight. He was diagnosed with Leukemia back in 2011. Last year, the cancer came back. He is now in remission. He tells News 19, "The fact that I've got it. I can't say for sure that's what caused it, but I think it had a lot to do with it." The 'it" he is referring to, is his 30 year firefighting career. He says, "Back when I first started in the fire service, which was the early 70's, we didn't even have air packs."

Lugoff Fire Chief, Dennis Ray wrote the grant for the extractor and a dryer for turnout gear, special chemicals, and training. He tells News 19, "Knowing that environment, knowing that's the profession that we're in, knowing we have those exposures, to provide as much protection to our firefighters as we can. This is absolutely key; cleaning properly decontaminating properly, after the firefighter comes out of that environment, put it back on the firefighter as fast as possible."

During a fire, firefighters are exposed to all kinds of chemicals that have been directly linked to certain types of cancers. Chief Ray says, "One of the biggest things we face today isn't just the fire, isn't the dangerous situations, protecting people. Its protecting ourselves, and specifically to the exposure to carcinogens."

This extractor is not just any washing machine. It is especially made for fire gear and even hoses. The particular one that Lugoff purchased was from a company in West Columbia. But in addition to the machine, Chief Ray says the firemen had to be trained on the proper care of their gear. He says, "You have an outer liner and there is an inner liner. They both have to be washed separately. They both have to be washed at their own programming cycles."

Firefighters added a new coat of paint a couple water tanks donated from the Early Fire Department.

Chief Will Boenicke said the truck will be used as a heavy brush truck in the battle against wildfires.

The department likes to replace its major pieces of equipment every 20 or 25 years, and the International heavy rescue truck was a 1996. Firefighters spent about a year researching trucks and features, debating new versus used, and going to see potential models.

They saw a similar model to the Rescue 1 truck with a Spartan chassis they ended up buying in Pittsburgh, and then headed in April to Indianapolis to see a demonstration model at the Fire Department Instructor Conference. The group brought it back to Hermitage for a tryout, and then decided to buy it.

Truck 112, the new heavy rescue vehicle, went in service Aug. 16 and has been on five or six calls. It has all the bells and whistles, from an LED light tower and a generator powered by the engine to a 30-gallon water tank for creating fire retardant foam, plus air packs embedded in the passenger seats, allowing firefighters to put them on while en route to a call.

The rescue carries much more equipment than the old model, Flynn said. The confined space equipment that had been spread over several vehicles is now in one place. The rapid intervention equipment is assembled and ready to go, instead of being disassembled for storage. The air cascade trailer that used to be pulled to a scene is gone, the equipment for filling air bottles nestled in the truck.

The truck seats six and carries warning cones, drinking water, cutters and saws, shovels, picks and pike poles, ropes, tarps, backboards, oil dry, tools and numerous other items for rescue. The department tries to keep up with advances in technology, new features and changing equipment ratings, he said. But, such an effort doesn’t come cheap.

The big rescue’s price tag: $488,000.

The department is paying for it with $100,000 from the Hermitage-Patagonia Relief Association, which is given money by the state from fire insurance premiums collected by insurance companies located outside of the state: $188,000 from the truck fund, which is built up by donations from local individuals, businesses and organizations; and a $200,000 loan, which will be paid from the truck fund.

The pumper will be driven from the area of Ingraham Terrace to Lake Drive East to Osborne Terrace to the firehouse at 5 Lake Drive West.

"We are asking the public to line the arrival route and cheer on the return of this prized antique," President Mark McGrath said.

The Mack Model 75-A pumper was bought in 1951, nine years after the fire department was established.

Company 5 previously operated with two, donated "hand-me-down" trucks before acquiring the pumper, McGrath said.

The pumper was in use from 1951-66 before being replaced by a larger truck, he added.