When first responders in Greene County hop in the truck and turn on the flashing lights, it's usually because they're on their way to help someone else. Often times they risk their own lives when those calls place them on or near a roadway.

"Drivers are distracted by various items, such as cellphones, being on the radio, and they come to a scene and folks don't slow down, but they have to slow down when we put the portable speed bumps out," says Maury Volunteer Firefighter Brandon Johnson. He says they received a firefighters grant worth $4,275 from the North Carolina Office of State Fire Marshal.

"We feel a lot safer being able to deploy these and also because sometimes you may not look behind you or something and someone sneaks up on you, so it's very important for us to be able to put these out," Johnson says. He says even with the state's Move Over law, they needed more to keep drivers from running into them.

"If you do see red lights or blue lights, you are required by law to pull over and give them their space to work on the side of the road and in a rural area like this, the roadways are not really huge, so it's really confining when you have a lot of cars and stuff and big equipment," Johnson explains.

He says he's hoping they'll get even more speed bumps in the future.