From left, Northshore Fire Battalion Chief Pat Brown, Congressman Mike Thompson and Northshore Fire Chief Jim Robbins gathered to celebrate the fire district's new water tender at the Clearlake Oaks Fire Station on Monday, Nov. 30, 2009. Photo courtesy of Northshore Fire Protection District.

CLEARLAKE OAKS – This week Northshore Fire Protection District marked the addition of a new water tender made possible through a federal grant.

Congressman Mike Thompson visited the district's Clearlake Oaks Fire Station on Monday to celebrate the new equipment, which Fire Chief Jim Robbins said is the district's second water tender.

Robbins said the water tender – built by Fouts Brothers Fire Equipment of Smyrna, Georgia – will be based at the Clearlake Oaks station. The other one the district has is in Upper Lake.

Accompanying Thompson were representatives from the US Department of Agriculture Rural Development Santa Rosa office.

A grant through USDA Rural Development's Economic Impact Initiative Grant Program helped make the water tender purchase possible, as Lake County News has reported.

The agency gave the district a $100,000 grant in June, and the district provided another $57,000 to pay for the equipment, Robbins said.

In September the district also received 20 new air packs and 20 new lightweight air tanks paid for through a $78,000 grant of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, also through USDA Rural Development. The district supplemented that grant with $25,000 to purchase the new equipment.

The district, with a $2.3 million annual budget, has 17 paid staff and 72 volunteers to cover 228,300 acres or 350 square miles, making it the largest fire district by area in the state, as Lake County News has reported.

Robbins said they're working on some new grant applications to USDA Rural Development now, hoping to receive funds for a new ambulance for the Clearlake Oaks station.

The district also wants a new machine that fills air bottles for firefighters' breathing apparatus. The machine would be built right into a truck, Robbins said. The district currently is looking for a company to build the equipment.

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The new water tender, purchased with help from a United State Department of Agricultural Rural Development grant, is one of only two such pieces of equipment in the entire Northshore Fire Protection District, the third largest district in size in the entire state. Photo courtesy of Northshore Fire Protection District.