However, for more than two dozen firefighters, they’re preparing for the worst case scenario.

"In a structure, the fire starts out small and leads to a big event, where ARFF or aircraft starts out big. Your main climax of the event is right when it happens. You can have a lot of people in a small amount of area, and there's just certain things you have to do right away that are different. You have to train on every area once every 12 months,” Kearney volunteer firefighter Seth Lunbery said.

The Federal Aviation Administration requires fire stations near airports to go through the training and recertification every year, and for the last few years, the department has used instructors from the University of Missouri.

"The department of transportation for Missouri - MODOT - said, 'Hey, we'll buy this mobile airplane for the central region - Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri - so they can get hands-on training and be able to use their own vehicles, their own hoses and people and mutual aide departments,” UM Aircraft Rescue Firefighting Specialist Mark Lee said.

The training offers a classroom setting, but the real fun lies within the hands on activities.

"I think the community expect us to be prepared for an event, and when they come and get out on the planes out here and fly to Denver and back, they want to know that if something does happen that they're going to be safe landing and we'll tend to that emergency the best that we can,” Kearney Volunteer Fire Department fire administrator Jason Whalen said.

The university brings along with them a mock airplane, which ignites in several different locations as well as gives firefighters the ability to extricate mannequin victims from the inside.

The AFG program allows first responders to purchase firefighting equipment, implement wellness programs that focus on health, and improve facilities. Funds can be used for a variety of needs, including new protective equipment, health and safety modifications to stations and training for emergency personnel.

U.S. Congressman Dave Loebsack commented on the grant for the Clinton firefighters saying, “Our firefighters and first responders stand ready to serve us the moment disaster strikes. This funding will ensure that they are able to have the equipment necessary to respond quickly to emergencies and keep our families and communities safe.”

"He's going to be their guardian angel as they train," Orland Fire Protection District Chief Michael Schofield said at a ceremony at the Palos Hills school on Wednesday.

Capuano, a 15-year veteran of the Chicago Fire Department who lived in the Mount Greenwood community, took several courses at Moraine over the years, his daughter Amanda said.

With the donation of the engine students, "will remember what a hero he was for years to come," she told a crowd that included area firefighters and school officials.

She and her mother, Julie, Capuano's parents Mike and Jacqui, brother Patrick and his children, daughter Delilah and son Bodhi, stood by the truck as a firefighter color guard walked past them at the end of the ceremony. At one point, Capuano's father put his hand on the side of the truck above where the Orland district had put the words "In Memory of Daniel Capuano, Dec. 14, 2015."

Capuano also worked for more than 16 years as a part-time firefighter in Evergreen Park, and "a lot of our guys in Orland worked with Dan in Evergreen Park," Schofield said.

The 43-year-old Capuano was searching through heavy smoke on the second floor of a vacant warehouse in the 9200 block of South Baltimore Avenue in Chicago when he fell down an open elevator shaft. He and his wife had been married for 20 years and, in addition to their daughter, had two sons.

Schofield said the engine is "going to serve new recruits (students at Moraine's fire academy) going forward.

The new Rescue 3, built by Metalfab Fire Trucks in Centreville, New Brunswick, was designed according to Tillsonburg's specifications with safety and efficiency in mind.

Smith noted that some of the parts (door hinges) were built by Eberhard Manufacturing, which has a local connection.

Rescue 3 carries four firefighters, rather than five in the old truck, but all four are forward-facing in the cab, rather than having three facing sideways in a back compartment, increasing the safety.

"The truck it replaces is a 20-plus year old design, maybe 25 years old, and concepts have changed," said Smith, "and how we do business has changed."

Rescue 3, a 'toolbox on wheels' is the first of their new fleet, he said, which will function together as a system. Rescue trucks are used for motor vehicle collisions, technical rescue, and scene support.

Storage space is more compact, he noted, but suitable for each truck, and for the type of calls they get. They are not designed as standalone units.

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