Rehoboth Fire Company Sends Truck to Missouri

On April 7, 2023, the Rehoboth Beach Volunteer Fire Company signed a contract to purchase a new engine to replace their 1995 one. The intention was to keep the 1994 engine in reserve until the new truck was close to delivery, until they learned of a volunteer fire company in Preston, Missouri which had lost its main response engine due to an accident. The Village of Preston, Missouri, population 157, is in a rural faming and cattle ranch area located in Hickory County, in cent ral Missouri. The Preston Volunteer Fire Department has been serving their community for over 38 years. They are a rural, hard pressed, volunteer fire company. They have two other used fire trucks they acquired over the years. One is a tanker and the other is a 4WD field fire pick up they acquired from the Indian River Volunteer Fire Company.

When Rehoboth's Fire Chief, Chuck Snyder, heard of Preston's plight he contacted Preston's Fire Chief, Brain Bennett, to off er the Rehoboth engine to them. He sent them pictures and specificatio ns. At the May 3, 2023, Rehoboth Fire Company meeting, the fire company members voted unanimously to send the Rehoboth truck to Preston They also voted to add some excess firefighting equipment to the truck for Preston to use. When contacted with the news, the Preston Fire Chief and some of his members left Missouri and drove to Rehoboth Beach. On Saturday morning, May 6, Rehoboth Engine 86-4 left Rehoboth Beach and headed for its new home in Preston. There is a fire service slogan coined many years ago, which is "Neighbor helping Neighbor." In this case to quote Chief Snyder, "This is one volunteer fire company helping another in their time a need. We are proud to help the Preston Volunteer Fire Company."