They were about to respond to a call for wires down around 12:45pm, but instead found smoke pouring out of their own agency.

Burritt says the cause originated as an electrical problem in the Rescue Unit located inside the building.

Newport Fire responded and the flames and smoke was contained quickly, but not before damaging all of the Poland trucks to some degree, and the building itself as well.

"It's still unclear how much damage has been sustained," said Chief Burritt. "We'll be evaluating the equipment and structural damage over the next several days."

Then, a turn for the better... an entire community of firefighters came together in a show of solidarity to help them out.

Volunteers from Newport, Schuyler, East Herkimer, Frankfort, Frankfort Center, Mohawk, Salisbury, and many others spent hours cleaning up equipment this evening.

Chief Burritt said Poland's firefighters are out of commission for at least the next 24-36 hours, but after that, they will be volunteering at nearby Newport, Deerfield, Remsen and Barneveld agencies.

"HCESD 9 and its contracted service provider CFVFD are the Fire and EMS services for this territory. The Bridgeland fire station (Station 13) is a part of the plan of HCESD 9 and CFVFD to provide coverage for the growing western part of HCESD 9" said Amy Ramon, CFVFD Fire Chief, and Commissioner Betty Boren Avery. "Also, HCESD 9 and CFVFD look at population trends and current station locations to evaluate station locations."  

The single story fire station building will be 19,000 square feet and will include four to five apparatus bays, living quarters, a training/conference room, work rooms, a decontamination room, turn-out gear space, EMS storage, and a physical wellness area.

But thanks to a federal loan passed through by Central Electric Cooperative in Mitchell, Linke and the crew now have a dependable, modern truck. The unveiling of the $265,000 truck was the highlight of a May 21 open house at the station. The $212,000 zero-interest loan came from the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Economic Development and Grant Program, or REDLG.