For the second year in a row, Shelton asked commissioners to consider adding two quick-response vehicles (QRVs) and the crews and equipment to man them to his department’s fleet.

Shelton said the QRVs would be stationed in Lowgap and Shoals, what he considers to be the most outlying areas of the county which are not adequately serviced by his department. Each Ford Explorer would have a critical care paramedic on board and carry the equipment necessary to keep a person alive until an ambulance can arrive at the scene of a medical emergency.

Shelton made it a point to show just what the equipment, a $23,000 Life Pak 15, was capable of doing.

"Look at the world we're living in," he said. The PBS website reports 355 mass shootings in 2015.

He said it would just take one incident to put his crew at risk. "We've got two colleges and one university. We need to be prepared," he said.

Last week fire crew responded to the University of Massachusetts campus with reports of an armed gunman on campus, a report that put the campus in lockdown for two hours.

He said police didn't know where the alleged gunman was. He said when he arrived UMass police were out with their long guns.

Pat Daley, chief of the East Great Plains department, said its Tanker 51 is 28 years old and deteriorating. 

He estimates it would cost about $650,000 to replace. As the only tanker in the city's fire fleet, it’s used often in areas with no fire hydrants. 

Aaron Westervelt, chief of the Laurel Hill department, told the committee its 33-year-old Engine 61 needs to be replaced immediately. City Manager John Salomone is expected to present his proposed budget April 1. Already, the school district is requesting a $4.6 million increase over current spending levels, a 6.24 percent jump.

The new vehicle will carry the department’s medical and extrication equipment, and also has a 1,500 gallon per minute water pump. The department will sell its 1999 truck.