As excited as a child on Christmas morning, members of the Columbia-Adair County Volunteer Fire Department awaited the arrival of our newest addition to the family on Thursday afternoon. We as a department are very proud to show the community our newest front line Fire Engine that has been in planning for the past several years, we were able to order last April, and it finally made its way home today around 3pm.
We have been tirelessly applying for any grants for the past 10-12 years to replace our aging front line fire truck that has proven itself over the past 26 years since its delivery on October 31, 1991. After realizing that we were not able to receive any funding the department knew to provide the service our members need and deserve we had to commit to the full purchase ourselves. Todays edition is a 2017 Freightliner 5 man custom cab that will replace its previous model immediately.
Since our last major purchase of remodeling our fire station in 2003, we have been saving funds knowing that we need to replace our aging fleet, We remind everyone that there is no local tax money provided to our department and our only source of income is from our loyal members that pay there fire dues every year to make sure they have the best fire protection around.
We have received training on this new unit and it will be in service tonight, We welcome anyone in the community to come by and look and be as proud as we are of our newest member to the Adair County family.
Donald Hare, Program Director