ANDREWS - It's a volunteer fire department. But the City of Andrews and the county are giving it the treatment that they believe it deserves.
On Saturday, the Andrews Volunteer Fire Department officially cut the ribbon to their new firehouse and celebrated with an open house for residents.
The city put forward $2 million to build the new station while the county provided a new training field.
"I think it matches the quality of the service that our volunteers provide. And it's about time they had it," Andrews Mayor, Robert Zap, said.
The fire department has been handling emergencies in the county since the 1940's. But it wasn't easy storing equipment. The previous station could only hold three of the nineteen vehicles the department owns. Fire Chief Joe Harper recalls the difficulty.
"Some of it was placed outside. When we ran out of rooms to hold it. We had some in the county barn. We have the old city hall. We had, I think, some three pieces of equipment there. We just had it scattered out. A lot of it was kept outside. But now, we're finally able to get it all in one house," Harper said.
The firehouse has a kitchen, meeting room and museum in addition to the truck bays. It makes the new recruits feel proud to serve their community, according to Andrews Volunteer Firefighter Anthony Dyer.
"Oh yeah everyday," Dyer said.
