BENTON, Wis. -- Recently, the Benton Fire Department placed a "previously owned" fire truck into service. It is a 1999 GMC C7500 Ferrara Rescue Truck. It is not just any previously owned fire truck, but one that comes with some history.

Faced with tough economic times, and shrinking municipal budgets, Fire Chief Carl Langkamp was faced with a tough decision. The need to replace an aging rescue truck that was becoming unsafe to drive, but not at the expense of all the department's financial resources.

So the Benton Fire Department went shopping for a deal, and found one. It was a previously owned vehicle, which is fairly common practice for volunteer fire services. Instead of paying $150,000 for a new rig, the department found one for about one-third of the cost at Fenton Fire Trucks in Tennessee.

The truck was part of the New York Fire Patrol, a defunct agency. It responded to fires and assisted the fire department of New York. The Fire Patrol, which was disbanded in 2006, had been around since the early 1800s. The Fire Patrol existed before there were municipal fire departments in larger cities.

However, what made this truck extra special was that it responded to the World Trade Center attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. When Benton received the truck, there were some "battle scars" on the truck where debris had fallen on it. The truck was stationed in the borough of Brooklyn. The Fire Patrol lost several lives on that day.

With that information in hand and the knowledge that the truck would meet specifications, the Benton Fire District authorized the purchase of the truck. Instead of having Fenton Fire Trucks do the refurbishing, Langkamp did some more negotiating and dropped the price down almost $11,000 and made it a project truck for the Benton Fire Department.

Over the past few months, the truck was refurbished and repainted "Zephyr" emergency green. The department came together and worked on the truck.