>La Grande Observer | Union and Wallowa Counties' News Leader

IMBLER — The Imbler Rural Fire District received a new interface engine March 14 and will retire its 37-year-old engine permanently.

“The engine was ordered through General Fire and manufactured in South Dakota,” said Laura Gow, a firefighter and emergency medical technician with the department.

She also wrote the application for the FEMA grant, which awarded the department $255,000 toward the purchase of the engine. 

The purchase contract with the manufacturer was signed in January 2007.

“The department contributed 5 percent in matching funds,” said Gow. “We just had to provide the engine’s equipment, hoses and things like that.”

Fire Chief Steve Henderson and Assistant Chief Lindsey Pierce went to pick up the engine and drive it back, Gow said.

The engine has a number of new features over the old engine, including an extended cab that allows the engine to carry five firefighters, and it is four-wheel drive. The former engine seats two or three firefighters and is a two-wheel-drive vehicle.

“It’s a huge step up in safety,” said Steve Hogge, who is a training officer, firefighter and emergency medical technician with the department. “It’s a wildland, urban interface engine designed for more rugged terrain.”

When not in use, the engine will be parked at the recently built Summerville station on Patten Street, where it can respond quickly to fire calls in that area. The former engine will be retired.

“We’re going to permanently retire the 37-year-old engine and dismantle it, but there’s a chance of it being sold,” said Hogge.