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Gleaming, spotless and larger than life, the new aerial ladder truck parked in the garage of the Kensington Volunteer Fire Department's Station 5 on Thursday looked like a million bucks.

It almost was.

"This is the truck [the county] didn't want us to have," said John Thompson, lifetime KVFD member and Kensington town councilman, surveying the $950,000 engine like a proud papa. Montgomery County conducts studies to determine where aerial trucks are needed. Station 5 has not made the cut, but the department applied for and received a federal grant to get one anyway.

Montgomery County Fire and Rescue spokesman Capt. Oscar Garcia said the county has aerial ladder trucks at stations near Kensington's Station 5, and thus the county has not seen a need for an added truck there. He said more information about the studies, including when the most recent one was conducted, was not available because Chief Richie Bowers was out of town last week.

"Those studies are way dated, and we have the staff and the manpower — they need something to ride," Thompson said. "It's a sweet ride. For all of its mass and bulk, it handles really nicely."

Replacing its 36-year-old predecessor, the KVFD's new $950,000 custom-designed engine can help firefighters perform rescues and put out high-rise fires using ladders and an aerial water tower reaching 100 feet. The truck stood as a shiny testament to the grant-writing ability of the department at a news event last Thursday.

Out of the sticker price, $600,000 came from the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program, which was co-founded in 2000 by U.S. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D). The rest came from donations to the department. Of the $8 million in federal assistance given to Montgomery County through the program since 2001, $1.8 million has gone to the KVFD.

Before her official speech to present this round of grant money, Mikulski joked with KVFD President Steven R. Semler that she already is prepared to hand out more.

"I was so inspired by your application I would start writing those checks by the minute," Mikulski said.

"We have been really blessed with our grants," said Station Chief Jim Stanton, who gave the credit to grant writer Chris St. John. Stanton said the station has been "outstanding in competing for grants," and has to be aggressive.

"Absolutely, that's the only way we're going to survive," Stanton said. "I think we demonstrate our need as a volunteer department for additional equipment and make a good case for funding that people seem to understand."

Milkulski said she recently had to call for fire department help when she put one leg down a flight of stairs "but left my [other] ankle behind," an episode that emphasized to her the need for responders to be there when called on.

"I know that when you call 911 you've got to count on the brave, skilled, competent people to be on your side, at your side," Mikulski said.

She said stations such as KVFD help the entire national-capital region and deserve federal support for equipment.

KVFD has also received a $234,000 federal grant offering scholarships to volunteer recruits, and a $311,976 federal grant to hire a full-time volunteer recruiter for five years.

Semler presented Mikulski with a specially minted KVFD commemorative coin and gave her credit for what can be achieved with the grants. He also said KVFD logged a record number of volunteer hours — 7,464 — in October. The record broke two previous records set in August and September.

The new truck still needs radios and other equipment to be installed, but it could be in service as early as this week, Semler said.