Fires have been a hot topic recently in Saskatchewan, and a nice story is one of people rallying together to pay a six-digit bill for a firetruck in Kincaid.

The Kincaid Fire Department bought a much-newer firetruck from Texas in August, and a couple weekends ago the community raised $111,200 in a dinner/auction/cabaret night for the truck. In total they've raised more than the $117,000 needed for the new ride, and their fire chief was really impressed in how things came about.

"The response was amazing," said Kincaid Fire Chief Mark Ross. "We raised 111,000 in one night. We had piles of donations from not just here, but there was companies in Swift Current, Assiniboia, and Ponteix that really helped out too. And Lafleche. The response - we couldn't believe it. The auctioneer (Don Bushell) donated his time to do the auction, and the Red Coat donated the meal, and Todd Vallee gave us quite a deal on his [music] services, so it was amazing really to think of a community this size raising that kind of money in a night."

Jenna Smith put the fundraiser together, and between that night and other fundraising efforts, $125,700 was raised.

The truck has been called out twice so far, including once as soon as it made its new home in Saskatchewan.

"The first night we got it home, we used it at a bale fire for about 18 hours, so that was quite a test for us. Worked really well," said Ross. "It was good training. It's quite a bit different."

Ross said the old truck was from around 1982, and the new one has a body from around 2006, but the truck itself is from around 2001. The new one can haul 2,500 gallons of water - up from the last one's 1,500 - and drive at 70 miles an hour - another improvement.

The hope is the new addition to the fire department won't have to be used too much, but nevertheless, it's a nice addition to the family.