In October, about $300,000 was donated to both the Lake Tanglewood Volunteer Fire Department (VFD) and Randall County Fire Department, which they used to purchase two trucks.

"This grant funds different areas, including [a fire] apparatus (that goes from small brush trucks to large brush trucks), fire engines and tanker trucks," Troy Ducheneaux, Texas A&M Forest Service Regional Fire Coordinator, said. 

Through the grant, Lake Tanglewood's VFD purchased a specialized brush truck that was needed to fight fires. 

"Lake Tanglewood was awarded a grant for a small brush truck which allows them to have a $100,000 worth of the grant," said Ducheneaux. "If they include what's called a compressed foam system, they can get an additional $20,000 on top of that and it will allow them to boost their abilities to fight fires in their response area." 

The Randall County Fire Department was also able to purchase a new fire engine. 

Before, they had a 20-year-old engine truck that needed about $10,000 worth of mechanical and engine repairs.

Station #4 located downtown on Akard Street was built in 1951. Present day traffic on Akard makes it difficult to maneuver fire engines in and out of the stations.

Along with insufficient parking and foundation problems, the department estimates it will require $10.8 million to replace Station #4 alone.

Replacing all 19 stations would cost approximately $175 million, according to the department’s presentation. Four new fire stations and upgrades at the training center would account for the remainder of the $220 million that Dallas Fire-Rescue is recommending for 2017 bonds.

Since 1991, the city has replaced 14 stations total, built four new stations, and expanded one.

The three fire engines will take between 10-11 months to build, St. George Fire Chief Robert Stoker said. Once delivered, two of the new trucks will be put on front-line duty at fire stations in the areas of SunRiver and Dixie Downs.

The new pumper trucks will allow the Fire Department to retire trucks that have been in use since the 1970s, albeit they currently are on reserve.

An example of the fire engines being built to meet the city’s needs is that they will include additional storage space, Stoker said. The department tries to have as much equipment on one firetruck as possible when responding to an incident. That way they don’t end up pulling additional resources from elsewhere.

Equipment on fire trucks includes more than just that used to battling fires. Firefighters routinely respond to incidents involving medical emergencies, hazardous material spills and clean up and vehicle accidents that sometimes require special extrication equipment.