The McAllen Fire Department has added a new upgrade that's extending their capabilities and allowing them to rescue people more efficiently. 

Fire Station 5 is home to the city of McAllen's newest fire truck.

The $1.6 million truck is equipped with new gear, including cameras, lights, and a 100-foot aerial platform, a feature their previous truck didn't have. 

"The aerial apparatus has what we call a basket," said McAllen Fire Chief Jim Schultz. "Where you can have three or four people operating at the tip of that ladder, 100 feet in the air, which gives us a great aerial view of any incident that's going on."

Not only is the 'basket' more efficient, but it's also safer for the victims that firefighters rescue. 

According to McAllen Assistant Fire Chief Juan Gloria, the new truck also has an impressive water pump.

"The pump capacity— we're talking about a 2,000 gallons per minute capacity of the unit," Gloria said. "So this is definitely one of the big guns that we have here now in the McAllen Fire Department to be able to fight big fires."

The new truck holds up to 300 gallons of water for fighting large structure fires.  

"Anytime we have a large structure," Schultz said. "Whether it's vertical or, let's say, a Walmart-type structure that's very spread out, we would bring in this type of apparatus to get either the fire fighting [the] water to the scene or to get personnel up on top of the roof quickly and safely."