By Mike Sanders mnsand@visuallink.com

The Coeburn Volunteer Fire Department is located in Southwest Virginia within Wise County. Coeburn not only responds to emergency incidents in Wise County, but also Dickenson and Scott counties. The Volunteers at Coeburn operate two engines, a large tanker, and a variety of support vehicles.

Coeburn’s newest engine is Engine 681 and is a 2009 Pierce Saber equipped with a 1500 gallon per minute pump, 825 gallons of water, and 60 gallons of foam. Unfortunately, the day I visited Coeburn this engine was at the Pierce dealership and I was unable to get posed photographs of the Saber. The photograph attached was taken of the Pierce while at the dealership shortly after being delivered from Pierce. Joining the 2009 Pierce is Engine 682, a 1998 Pierce Dash equipped with a top mounted 1500 gallon per minute pump and 1000 gallons of water.

Tanker 683 carries big water, and the fire department created a unique tanker truck on a limited budget. The 1986 KenWorth was once a coal truck. The department used the KenWorth and had a locally built 3,000 gallon water tank added to it to be used as the department’s tanker truck.

“684” is a 1996 Chevrolet Cheyenne with a Stahl body. Equipped with a 250 gallon per minute pump and a 250 gallon water tank, this truck is used for brush fires, vehicle extrication, and carries a variety of different equipment.

“685” is also used for brush fires and is towed to the scene via a trailer. It is also equipped to carry a backboard. It is a 2006 Polaris 6×6 Ranger equipped by RKO with a 100 gallon water tank and a 5 gallon foam tank. Finally, “686” is a 2003 Ford F250 utility vehicle.

Sitting in front of the fire station on display is old Engine 1, a 1946 Ford engine built by Maxim.

I want to thank the members of Coeburn who helped move apparatus around for photographs in the late afternoon. Also, my apologies to the members of Coeburn for taking a longer amount of time than anticipated in posting this article.