The department has already budgeted the approximately $799,000 needed to pay for the two 2016 Pierce-Kenworth water tenders from Pierce Manufacturing, which has supplied all of the department's fire apparatuses since 1991. The tenders are a type of tanker truck designed specifically for transporting water from a water source to a fire scene.

The city's existing fire boat, which can provide up to 2,000 gallons of water per minute, would supply salt water from the Oakland Estuary or San Francisco Bay to the tenders during an emergency. Along with using the fire boat, sites are being established around the city where the tenders could pull water directly from the bay, Alameda fire Chief Doug Long said in a background report for the council.

"A minimum of two tenders are necessary to work concurrently to provide a system of constant water supply," Long said. "As one is supplying water at the fire incident, the other would be refilling at the fire boat or drafting site."

"It was terribly needed," said LeBlanc of the "expansion," which, through a contract negotiation with the Firefighters' Union, temporarily utilizes already-available resources.

"I was actually concerned about sleep deprivation," he said, "that these folks are up for 24 hours, running code in congested streets. I was fearful they would be tired. We had to do something."

Both of the ambulance units will have a home at Station No. 1 in Downtown Anchorage, though will be setup to respond to calls around the entire community.

Though it may only be two new rigs for the department, the number of lives saved from them will be exponentially greater. Plus, the two units will add about a 22 percent increase in service availability. They will also provide relief to a greatly overworked station staff: Twenty percent of all AFD calls go to Station No. 1, according to LeBlanc.

"We needed to do things differently," he said.

Breaking it down, LeBlanc said there are three big reasons for the new additions.

One is the volume and total number of calls the department has been receiving for emergency medical service requests. There was a 12 percent increase over the course of 2014 alone, according to LeBlanc.

"We are the Anchorage Fire Department," he said. "but really, we are a fire department that's Emergency Medical Service-heavy."

The number of calls is an especially important factor at Station No. 1, which LeBlanc said receives more than 20 percent of all of the AFD calls. It's also that concentration of requests in the Station No. 1 area that made it a good place to add units.

"This station receives the bulk of those calls," he said. "And last year, we saw that growth and thought that we could ride out that storm, if you will. But the storm has continued."

Another reason is the types of calls received, which are generally for non-life-threatening injuries. That means that Paramedics aren't usually necessary, and a Level I EMT would be able to do the job.

Two Nazareth Ambulance Corps workers and a patient were able to escape safely when the ambulance burst into flames Wednesday in Mifflin County, a fire official said.

Highland Park Hose Co. No. 4 Chief Bill Fike said the fire broke out around 4:30 p.m. while the ambulance was traveling west on Route 322, near the Walnut Street exit in Lewistown. The ambulance was transporting the patient in Mifflin County.

Fike said the fire was brought under control by 4:50 p.m. The two EMS workers and the patient were then transported by that area's ambulance service to their destinations.

Fike said the fire appeared to have started in the ambulance's engine compartment, but the blaze remains under investigation. It's unclear how long the ambulance corps has had the vehicle.

The number of the ambulance seen burning along the highway is 5083, a box-style ambulance similar to the 5086 unit on display at last month's groundbreaking for the squad's new headquarters at 519 Seip Ave.