Leon County Sheriff’s Office reported on its Twitter account Wednesday afternoon that a two-vehicle crash involving a Tallahassee Fire Department truck had occurred, blocking Blountstown Highway at Geddie Road. The sheriff’s office posted two photos but no other details were released.

KME—West Earl Township Volunteer Fire Department, Lancaster County, PA, pumper. KME SSX XLFD cab with raised roof and chassis; Cummins L9 450-hp engine; Hale Qmax 1,750-gpm pump; 750-gallon polypropylene water tank; 162-inch Flex-Form flushback body constructed of 12-gauge 3CR12 stainless steel; ASA Voyager camera system. Dealer: Lo Barrick, Fire & Rescue Products, Harrisburg, PA.

PREVIOUS PHOTO OF THE DAY >>

MORE FIRE APPARATUS ARTICLES >>

A federal grant will enable Ashland Fire and Rescue to upgrade breathing equipment and provide health screenings for all of its firefighters, MailTribune.com reported.

Ashland Fire and Rescue announced the $365,181 award Monday from the Assistance to Firefighters grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Without this grant, due to Ashland’s tight budget, the department would have struggled to update its outdated equipment, according to a statement put out by Ashland Fire and Rescue.

The breathing equipment — called self-contained breathing apparatus, or SCBA — consists of air tanks carried on packs worn by firefighters, with face pieces to prevent breathing super-heated air or smoke filled with toxic chemicals, according to the statement.

The packs include an alarm system for fallen or trapped firefighters. Connections allow firefighters to aid each other by hooking into another breathing pack, supplying air from a full tank to one running low, the report said.

The last of the federal COVID-19 aid to Olean (NY) will go to making firefighters breathe a little easier, OleanTimesHerald.com reported.

The Common Council authorized $100,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 funds to a reserve account, allowing the city fire department to purchase around $254,000 in self-contained breathing apparatus units and oxygen bottles for the department, the report said.

The funds and dealer financing will be used to replace 26 breathing systems, 66 air bottles, and two rapid intervention team air supplies to provide emergency air; as well as convert 40 currently owned breathing systems and the city’s bottle fill station to use the new quarter-twist air bottles, according to the report.

The city received roughly $1.4 million from the ARPA, split in two payments in July 2021 and July 2022, the report said.

Lancaster County commissioners presented a $500,000 check to the Lancaster Township Fire Department on Tuesday, Fox43.com reported. The money will go toward building a new fire station on Millersville Pike, a project decades in the making.

The new firehouse will replace the two fire stations on each side of the township, the report said. 

The project was delayed numerous times due to the pandemic and ongoing inflation, the report said. Funds from American Rescue Plan saved the project.

Construction on the new firehouse will begin on October 29 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2023, according to the report.