A new fire truck is the latest expansion to the Culkin Volunteer Fire Department, which serves Warren County’s second largest fire protection district.

Firefighters there say the truck, a $107,000 beauty equipped with four-wheel drive, a winch, and compressed air foam system, gives them better versatility and more off-road capability when dealing with brush fires.

“It’s kind of hard, if you’ve got a fire in a field, to justify driving a $300,000 truck off the pavement,” said Chief Trey Smith.

The Ford F-550, acquired through a lease-purchase agreement from Deep South Fire Equipment in Seminary, arrived Friday. At under 20,000 pounds, it weighs less than half as much as the department’s two pumpers.

Work has already begun on expansion to the department’s firehouse on Culkin Road. Two parking bays and a workshop will be added.

This week, workers were busy readying the station’s piping system. Asked whether a fourth truck will be purchased to occupy the second of the station’s forthcoming bays, Smith said it was a possibility.

“We’re a rural fire department, but we’re becoming more of a suburban fire department with all this growth going on around here,” Smith said.

Firefighters touted the new truck’s foam delivery system as its best feature. The advantages of foam are that it sticks to surfaces longer than water, and “takes 200 gallons of water and turns it into 1,200 gallons,” Smith said.

Few other departments in the region fight fire with foam, Culkin volunteers said.

And while the department’s two other, much larger trucks also deliver foam, firefighters said the foam system on the new truck is more effective and less finicky than earlier versions.

The department has a $15,000 contract for fire protection services with the Warren County Board of Supervisors and collects 2 mills from real property within its district.

Tax income brings in about $75,000, said Chuck Tate, chairman of the Culkin Fire District. Residents’ donations through the Culkin Water District bring $400 to $500 a month, Tate said.

The State Fire Rebate Insurance Program, based on a 3 percent tax on all premiums, distributes about $10 million annually to local governments for rural fire protection. Disbursements can be used for capital purchasing, equipment, training and insurance.

A $112,795 disbursement through Warren County will defray much of the cost of the Culkin department’s expansions.

A network of volunteer fire departments cover Warren County outside Vicksburg. Crews are dispatched through pager devices activated by 911 Dispatch Center staffers.

Also this week, the Vicksburg Fire Department got a new addition to its fleet. On Tuesday, the Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen signed a lease-purchase agreement with Trustmark National Bank for a new fire truck — a GMC Sierra 1,500 gallon-per-minute pumper.