Last Wednesday night the sky lit up at the Ninepipe Irrigation Camp as the Charlo Volunteer Fire Department set a house and its outbuildings on fire.

The training exercise was an opportunity to try out the CVFD's new pumper.

Thanks to the work of Dick Erb, Charlo has a $90,000 addition to its fire fighting fleet of vehicles. Until now, the fleet consisted of a 1967 engine that held 500 gallons of water and pumped 1,000 gallons a minute.

The new pumper, courtesy of a grant written by Erb and awarded by FEMA, holds 1,000 gallons of water and pumps 1,500 gallons a minute.

Charlo Fire Chief Bernie Hertz says, "It's almost 30 years newer than the old one. We had a '67 - this is a '93."

The training exercise of Nov. 17 involved setting an old house on fire by "marrying" a little diesel fuel with a lit flare.

The entire volunteer force from Charlo, all 21 of them, was on hand to put the fire out.

How does the new pumper help the men do their job?

"We can haul five fireman, versus the three we crammed into the 1967 pumper," Hertz said. "We cover the Moiese Valley and this gives us more impact considering the distance we have to travel."

Hertz wanted to say a special "thank you" to Dick Erb of Moiese Valley.

"He put a lot of work into this. He wrote the grant," said Hertz. "We are so lucky to have this guy on the department with us. The community owes him a lot."