The cause isn’t fully known, but apparently the rig was parked on a knoll that had been burned over a few hours earlier and something still smoldering beneath the dirt may have caught the rear tires on fire.

The crew did spray the area down with water before leaving, according to the department.

“At the time, our firefighters were 500 yards away fighting the fire,” Marshall said.

The engine fire was spotted by an airplane and other engines parked nearby were used to put it out.

Engine 21’s rear tires were burned away and its back half was severely damaged.

The tires of another nearby truck from a different county were also damaged.

Marshall said Engine 21, which was from the Taft fire station, was returned on Friday.

Damage is still being assessed to see if it’s a total loss.

Engine 21 cost about $415,000, which doesn’t include all the equipment such as hoses, jaws of life, etc. That adds another $150,000 to the cost.

Marshall was confident Kern County would be reimbursed for the loss.

He wasn’t sure where the money would come from because large fires like this have multiple agencies involved.

For instance, this engine was requested by the California Office of Emergency Services.

The Soberanes Fire has also already received a Fire Management Assistance Grant from FEMA.

The 2006 American LaFrance served the first decade of its life in the Sparks, Nev., fire department. But it is now the newest piece of equipment in the bays at the San Andreas fire station.

“This one pumps 1,500 gallons per minute,” San Andreas Fire Chief Don Young said of the recent purchase. “What it replaces is an original 1988 FMC.”

That 1988 FMC only pumps 1,250 gallons per minute. It also has a lot less room to store equipment. Both are type 1 engines specialized for use on structure fires.

It is not easy for the San Andreas Fire Protection District to purchase equipment. A new type 1 engine costs $600,000 to $1 million, Young said. But the entire annual budget for the fire district is about $230,000. Most of that goes to gas, electricity bills, paying $50 stipends to firefighters who work 24-hour shifts at the station and salaries for the district’s two paid chiefs.

Volunteers do many of the repairs and most of the maintenance on the district’s equipment. Firefighters are doing the work, for example, to remove the Sparks Fire Department name and logo from the recent purchase and replace it with San Andreas Fire Department signage.

So even coming up with the $53,000 for a used American LaFrance engine required some creativity. Fortunately, San Andreas Fire Protection District and other small districts earn money when the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection or the federal government call up the local district engines to be part of strike teams assigned to large fires. It is also a chance for the usually unpaid volunteer firefighters to earn money.