Trenton Volunteer Fire Department gets new fire engine

TRENTON, N.C. (WITN) - The Trenton Volunteer Fire Department received a new fire truck and equipment as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s investment in rural communities to help with disaster recovery.

The $690,000 disaster grant helped towards building a new fire house, purchasing a state of the art fire truck and getting new equipment to stock a station for almost any emergency.

“We got a truck well equipped to handle almost any emergency,” president Charles Jones said. “We have a firehouse large enough to take care of people, we didn’t have that before.”

The fire department initially applied for a $30,000 grant and said they were shocked to get that and more from the USDA.

“We didn’t know what to think,” Jones said. “With the building, the grant to build the building and the grant to get the trucks, even though we had to borrow money and be in debt for a long time, we are still real pleased that everything came out like it did.”

The firehouse was packed with firemen and their families on Sunday to celebrate the unveiling of the truck.

“The firemen give us the edge,” Jones said. “We have good men, and they respond readily, putting their life of the line every time and rescue people or save prominent lives in the fire department.”

Jones County was devastated by Hurricane Florence in 2018.

The fire department rescued more than 135 people, although Jones said they were not as well equipped to house and protect the citizens as they could have been.

The new additions will facilitate better safety for their firemen to protect and serve their community.

​Jones was also awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine by Governor Roy Cooper. The honor was presented by Sen. Michael Lazzara (R-Jones, Onslow).