You know you're from a small town when...

...the new fire truck is the biggest news around. LOL.

Castile Fire Department has historically (to the best of my knowledge anyway) purchased used fire trucks and some of them are now darn near as old as I am! But when you are only used a few times a year, it's ok.

This year, the department voted to get rid of 2 old trucks and purchase this one new pumper tanker. From this view it looks as long as the fire hall - it's not, quite. You can see all the guys drooling looking it over. We had guys from the county EMS and several local departments come to watch it be delivered and I hear it will be front page in the weekly paper this week.

As an EMT, I am technically an exterior firefighter but I know nothing about trucks or anything on them so I'll just show you the photos. My boss, a Perry Center fireman, asked to see a pic of the pumps and I hadn't even thought to get one. Check out how HUGE it is compared to my models. It feels bigger than the 2 trucks we got rid of.

And lucky me, I got the first truck related injury. I was trying to figure out how to open the roller door compartments (shown here to the left of Pete). Nick showed me the "latch" and as the door started to fly up, I tried to grab it. Instead, I got my fingers slammed between the door and the truck. Ouch didn't quite cover it. No swelling but my fingers/knuckles are pretty sore. See why I'm not an interior? I can't even operate the truck let alone run into burning buildings with all that gear on...

And the two bestest models? My nephews, Ryan and Tyler. Maybe you can tell from the angle of the photo how high they are. There are three steep steps and I had a bit of trouble getting up there in a jean skirt...can't wait to see the guys in their bunkers trying to climb up there.