John J. Harvey has published an article marking the 95th year of the retired New York City fireboat and describing its continued public trips on New York Harbor.

René Allen Mack wrote that the vessel was built in 1931, was decommissioned by the New York City Fire Department in 1994 and was then bought out of the scrapyard by a group of private marine enthusiasts for ten dollars more bid.

The boat was restored with private funds and donations and began hosting free public trips on the river for donations. In June 2000, it was added to the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places.

The fireboat still sails regularly and recently took passengers on a free 90 minute trip around the Battery, moving near the Staten Island Ferry, the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge.

The article also recounts the fireboat’s role in New York maritime history and in emergency response. It welcomed major ocean liners into New York, fought the 1942 Normandie fire and later took part in the September 11, 2001 response.

After the attacks, the U.S. Coast Guard authorized any boat to assist with evacuations from Manhattan and John J. Harvey joined that flotilla.

Fire & Safety Journal Americas

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Fire damaged a pest control business on the south side of Wenatchee early Tuesday. The Wenatchee Valley Fire Department tells KPQ News crews responded to the blaze at just after 5 a.m. in the 1000 block of Crescent Street and arrived to find flames on the north side of the building. Firefighters soon discovered that the flames had also spread to portions of the structure’s interior and utilized an extant firewall at the rear of the building to halt the fire’s progress.

Fire Chief Brian Brett says it took crews about 30 minutes to knock down the blaze and they remained at the scene until around 6:50 a.m. Brett says the fire caused significant heat damage to the exterior façade of the building, as well as to its frontal interior, along with some structural damage. He added that despite the nature of the business where the fire was located, no volatile chemicals were involved in the blaze nor were any such materials a concern to firefighters at the scene. No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.

KPQ – FM 101.7 Wenatchee

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PHOTOS: As the FIFA World Cup matches in Seattle approach, the city’s Emergency Operations Center is getting ready to handle the response from more than 40 agencies to tackle logistics and safety in the city during the tournament. The city expects 750,000 visitors during the six weeks of matches in June and July.

“We have plans in place to not only be able to deal with all the traffic and pedestrians, but also any contingencies that may arise during the tournament,” said Kenneth Neafcy, the Operations Program Manager with the Seattle Office of Emergency Management. “I’m feeling confident.” The center will be staffed with around 80 people on match days, with police, fire, transportation, and communications staff monitoring the city in real time.

“We’ve taken our plans are that we’ve developed over years in the city of Seattle and recognizing this is such a unique tournament, we’ve carefully considered what changes or tweaks we need to make to those plans so we can effectively respond to any kind of event, or an emergency including heat, terrorism, or even smoke should it impact the tournament,” Neafcy said.

KOMO-TV ABC 4 Seattle

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FDIC International is a key tradeshow for emergency services, offering unique opportunities for networking, product evaluation, and hands-on training with industry experts and manufacturers.

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VIDEO: The Nampa Fire Protection District has found a new administrative home near Midland and Caldwell Boulevard, solving a years-long search for a permanent space. The district plans to move into the new building at the beginning of June. Currently, day-to-day operations happen in downtown Nampa, but Chief Kirk Carpenter said that was never the long-term plan. The search for space goes back to when the fire district split from the city.

“At the same time, it was identified that the police department was growing at a pace in which they were going to need more space. So, during that year, the fire department was moved out of the public safety building and into this location,” Carpenter said.

The district previously considered moving near a bowling alley, but a pause in federal grant funding put those plans on hold. Carpenter said the city’s $880,000 figure was based on a 2021 valuation, which does not go far enough in today’s market. “It isn’t enough to purchase a new building; new buildings today are significantly more per square foot,” Carpenter said.

KIVI-TV ABC 6 Nampa

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