Photo and story by Tom Rivers

HOLLEY – Murray Joint Fire District Chief Rick Cary, left, and Mark Porter, the fire district chairman, are shown with the district’s new fire engine. The pumper-tanker carries 1,000 gallons of water and also has a capacity to pump 1,500 gallons a minute.

It replaces a pumper-tanker from 1992. The new truck was manufactured by Spartan in South Dakota. The fire district picked a white color for the truck, instead of red as part of an rebranding effort for the joint district, which includes the former Holley and Fancher-Hulberton-Murray districts.

Murray also has a refurbished rescue truck in service that functions as a mini-pumper. It holds 300 gallons and has a capacity to pump 1,500 gallons a minute.

Voters in the Murray Joint Fire District on Feb. 21, 2023 approved spending up to $900,000 for the new pumper-tanker fire truck and a refurbished rescue truck that will serve as a mini-pumper – with $680,000 for the new pumper-tanker and $220,000 to convert the rescue truck into a mini-pumper.

Mark Porter, the district chairman, said the joint fire district had $200,000 in reserves towards the trucks, and will borrow about $700,000 through a bond.