Milton, Harold fire departments receive new trucks

MILTON — Two Santa Rosa County fire departments have received new trucks.

MILTON FIRE DEPARTMENT

The Milton Fire Department received a new truck at the end of May. The truck began service on June 9 and has been busy, according to Fire Chief John Reble.

“This truck runs about 80 percent of the calls,” Reble said. “It’s been in service for a little more than a month now, and it’s probably gone on about 100 calls.”

The city purchased the truck for approximately $250,000, according to City Manager Brian Watkins. The fire department runs on a fleet of three rescue pumpers and one reserve truck; the department is keeping the old truck on reserve in case any of their others go out of commission for repairs.  

HAROLD VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT

The Harold Volunteer Fire Department received a new truck with help from the Assistance to Firefighters Grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. This is the second grant from FEMA the department has received this year; the first grant was in the amount of $25,020 and paid for 1,200 feet of four-inch hose with accessories and two thermal imagers, according to Fire Chief Bruce Ehrenberger.

The grant that paid for the truck was in the amount of $265,000, according to Ehrenberger. The fire department received the new truck on June 1, and it has since been on a handful of calls. As a stipulation with the grant, the old truck, a 2000 model, was decommissioned and donated to the county for training purposes.

“We are really blessed,” Ehrenberger said. “It took a lot of work.”

The Harold Volunteer Fire Department was founded in 1976 and has been at their current location since 1982. Ehrenberger, who works as a paid firefighter for Eglin Air Force Base, has been the fire chief since 2012.

This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Milton, Harold fire departments receive new trucks