That was the trend. Marion County hired its first paid firefighter in 1979.

Most of our newer prototype stations are about 7,200 square feet, and that station is about 3,500 square feet. It's just a very small station.

We've had 21 referrals in less than two months. We consider that a lot.

When your house is on fire, you don't care who's logo is on the truck or what race is in the uniform. You just want good service.

We're a very diverse department, we just don't have a lot of blacks.

You can't hire blacks if there's not a pool of black recruits to choose from.