The Goat Rocks Fire has been burning in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest since a lightning strike on Aug. 9. It grew rapidly in size beginning on Friday, Sept. 9, and has now grown to more than 3,000 acres, though firefighters have reported that better weather and containment efforts have largely kept the blaze in check about 1 and a half miles from Packwood.
- PUB DATE: 9/18/2022 5:00:00 PM - SOURCE: Centralia Chronicle

Tulsa opened its first brand-new fire station since 2006 on Saturday, KTUL.com reported.

After two years of construction – and many more years of planning – Fire Station 33 is finally ready to serve the rapidly expanding East Tulsa area, the report said. A city official said the station’s location is no coincidence.

Tulsa’s border with Broken Arrow is right down the road from Fire Station 33. The two towns currently have a cooperative agreement because Tulsa fire engines cannot respond to calls in the area quickly enough. The new station will transform that agreement from a dependency to a mutual benefit.

Fire Station 33 is equipped with top-notch amenities for living and working. Tulsa firefighters work 24-hour-long shifts, so fire stations must strike a work-life balance, the report said.

The building boasts the largest gym of any city station (firefighters must work out during their shifts), a sizeable industrial-grade kitchen, and a massive laundry facility meant solely for washing protective equipment, according to the report. There are communal areas, study rooms for promotion exams, and two locker rooms.

Tulsa Fire Department officials said the station was specifically designed to foster camaraderie. The building’s layout encourages firefighters to share communal spaces with others. The beds in the sleeping quarters are separated only by a half-height wall on one side, with pairs of beds facing each other.

Evan Brandt

The Mercury, Pottstown, Pa.

(MCT)

Sep. 18—POTTSTOWN — Just over a year since West Pottsgrove Township suspended West End Fire Company from providing fire services and hired Pottstown to do that, the borough and township have inked a five-year contract to continue that arrangement.

West Pottsgrove suspended West End Fire Company as its fire services provider in August of 2021. The act came in the wake of months of disputes between the two entities, primarily over money, including a state attorney general investigation of the fire company’s finances.

At the same time, the township commissioners voted unanimously to instead pay the Pottstown Fire Department for 18 months of fire services provided by its four volunteer fire companies.

At the time, the payments to Pottstown were estimated to cost West Pottsgrove taxpayers between $135,000 and $140,000, about the same amount the township had paid to West End.

According to the new contract, adopted unanimously without comment at the Sept. 12 borough council meeting, the township will pay just over $91,000 per year for fire protection, although the final payment will be adjusted to reflect the Pottstown Fire Department’s actual costs for the year to provide fire protection in the township.

A calculation sheet accompanying the contract indicates that so far in 2022, West Pottsgrove has had 49 fire calls, compared to the 741 in the borough.

That means so far this year, West Pottsgrove calls comprise 6 percent of the department’s total call volume, despite being 16 percent of the total combined population of the two municipalities.

Additionally, the contract indicates West Pottsgrove will additionally be responsible for an annual payment of $30,180 to pay a share of the Pottstown Fire Department’s workers compensation insurance costs.

The new contract, which was approved by the West Pottsgrove Township Commissioners at their Aug. 3 meeting, goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2023.

Last year, a steering committee was formed to try to work out the differences between the West End Fire Company and the township. The township’s signing of a five-year agreement with the borough suggests those differences remain unresolved.

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(c)2022 The Mercury, Pottstown, Pa.

Visit The Mercury, Pottstown, Pa. at https://www.pottsmerc.com/

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

A boy’s life-saving visit from local firefighters this year may help inspire his older brother to join the service himself one day. Two-year-old Sebastian was born roughly 15 weeks premature with underdeveloped lungs, his mom Brianna Loran said in an interview. He stayed at Seattle Children’s Hospital for his first 11 months before he could safely come home to the family’s home on the west side of Auburn.
- PUB DATE: 9/18/2022 5:30:00 AM - SOURCE: Federal Way Mirror - Metered Site

The New York Museum of Transportation, 6393 East River Road, will host a fleet of antique fire trucks on September 18, thelcn.com reported.

The Genesee Chapter of the Society for the Preservation and Appreciation of Antique Motorized Fire Apparatus in America will have its restored firefighting equipment on display. Resplendent in bright red paint and polished metal work, the vintage vehicles will delight visitors and bring back memories of times past, the report said.

Visitors will be able to discover the difference between a “fire truck” and a “fire engine,” and find out why firemen wear red suspenders.

Trolley rides will also be operating at the Museum of Transportation.