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Posted: May 16, 2025

Aurora (IL) City Council Approves New $35M Fire Department Headquarters

R. Christian Smith
Chicago Tribune
(TNS)

After a maneuver that involved temporarily suspending certain meeting rules, the Aurora City Council approved Tuesday the construction of a new $35 million fire department headquarters building.

The Aurora Fire Department’s new headquarters building, which will also include a relocated Fire Station 4, is set to be located on the site of the current Aurora Police Department headquarters on Indian Trail, creating a combined Aurora Public Safety Campus.

Aurora Fire Department officials have said this new facility will improve the department’s operations in multiple ways, including lower fire and emergency medical response times, much-needed expanded office space for department administration and a new storm-hardened, high-tech Emergency Operations Center.

Aurora aldermen have been publicly discussing the construction of the project across several meetings of various committees since early April. It was delayed in the committee process for several weeks as aldermen debated the project, its price and the process of its design.

At Tuesday’s Aurora City Council meeting, just before it was set to consider the project, the council voted to suspend a city code that would have allowed just two aldermen to delay the project without a full vote.

John Laesch, who was at Tuesday’s meeting as an alderman at-large but was just hours away from being sworn in as the city’s new mayor, confirmed with The Beacon-News on Thursday that he was planning to delay the project.

He wanted to either make minor adjustments to the plan, reducing costs, or redesign it to higher energy efficiency standards, making it eligible for certain grants or bonds, he said on Thursday.

Voting against the suspension of the city code and later against the construction of the fire department headquarters at Tuesday’s meeting were Laesch, Ald. Ted Mesiacos, 3rd Ward, and Ald. Edward Bugg, 9th Ward.

Bugg and Laesch previously used the city code that was suspended at Tuesday’s meeting to delay consideration of a new QuikTrip gas station, which has since been approved.

Although the meeting was opened and later closed by 6th Ward Ald. and Mayor Pro Tem Mike Saville, outgoing Mayor Richard Irvin briefly slowed up to take control of the meeting just before the vote to suspend the rules was taken and left soon after the construction of the fire station was approved.

“I’m here for AFD,” Irvin said after he took over control of the meeting from Saville.

Irvin also specifically voted in favor of suspending the rules even though his vote was not needed. Typically, the mayor only votes to break a tie or in a similar situation.

Ald. Patty Smith, 8th Ward, who made the motion to suspend the city code allowing just two aldermen to delay the project, said at Tuesday’s meeting that she didn’t see any way around building the fire station because otherwise it would leave a fire and emergency response gap in part of the city.

“The safety of our residents should be the number one issue for us, and if it is not your number one issue up here as an alderman, then you’re no more than a politician,” she said.

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Posted: May 16, 2025

Interesting Rigs at FDIC International 2025, Part 3

The following personal observations are from an armchair’s perspective devoid of interaction with vendors on the exhibit floor at FDIC International 2025. Comments are not expressing approval, disapproval, or endorsement.

Photo 1.

Photo 1. Rosenbauer dealer Brian Franz sent this photo by Rosenbauer’s marketing staff of a quint’s front bumper with a booster reel and steamer connection with a swiveling elbow. Franz: “Booster reels are making a comeback, but are difficult to place on quints due to limited space and weight.” Asked how common front suctions are on quints, he replied, “I would say 50/50. Some still use them in rural communities and it seems cities are getting away from them.” 

Photo 2.

Photo 2. Pierce’s Dave McAlice provided this photo of the front bumper on a Velocity heavy duty platform with a 2,000-gallon-per-minute (gpm) pump. It also has a front steamer connection but is piped for hose to extend straight through the bumper fascia—often found when rigs might be drafting. Safety gurus will appreciate the Roto-Ray light mounted below the driver’s line of sight and the bumper’s cornering lights.

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Posted: May 16, 2025

Fate (TX) Department of Public Safety Auctioning Off 2007 Pumper

The Fate (TX) Department of Public Safety is auctioning off a 2007 Freightliner M2106 pumper.

The rig has 19,342 miles, a 1,000-gallon water tank, a 1,250-gallon-per-minute (gpm) pump and a ground ladder.

Bidding is open through municibid.com at https://tinyurl.com/muy6zb5a and runs through May 27. There was an opening – and lone – bid of $15,000.

All the money raised will go back into the Fate Department of Public Safety.

The post Fate (TX) Department of Public Safety Auctioning Off 2007 Pumper appeared first on Fire Apparatus: Fire trucks, fire engines, emergency vehicles, and firefighting equipment.

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Posted: May 16, 2025

Jacksonville (FL) Unveils Stroke Response Ambulance

UF Health Jacksonville and the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department (JFRD) rolled out a new ambulance dedicated solely to stroke response in Northeast Florida.

Designed to deliver life-saving treatment faster, the specialized stroke ambulance is equipped with a mobile CT scanner and clot-busting medications, allowing paramedics and medical staff to begin diagnosis and treatment before the patient even arrives at the hospital, First Coast News reports.

The new mobile stroke unit is modeled after a similar program launched in Gainesville, where it has already proven successful. There, patients receive critical treatment within the first hour of a stroke, the “golden hour,” which dramatically improves outcomes.

Visit First Coast News for more.

The post Jacksonville (FL) Unveils Stroke Response Ambulance appeared first on Fire Apparatus: Fire trucks, fire engines, emergency vehicles, and firefighting equipment.

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Posted: May 15, 2025

Concrete (WA) VFD Engine Beyond Repair, Chief Says

CAMERON MARTINEZ
Skagit Valley Herald, Mount Vernon, Wash.
(TNS)

CONCRETE — Concrete Fire Chief Jaesen Meacham told his Town Council on Monday that his department’s Engine 2811 — a 1991 Darley Pumper — is beyond repair.

Because of the truck’s age, the fire department is unable to obtain parts for the truck.

Now the department only has Engine 2812, a 1989 Darley, but its engine hasn’t been tested and fire season is on the horizon.

Meacham’s temporary solution is to come up with an interlocal agreement with Skagit County Fire District 10 to borrow an engine.

District 10 covers areas along Highway 20, beginning east of Hamilton and extending to the Canadian border.

It also includes the region surrounding Highway 530, from its intersection with Highway 20 at Rockport south to the Suiattle River.

“I’m going to get District 10’s backup engine into our station and I’m going to get my people trained up on that as quick as I can so we have an engine,” Meacham said.

In the meantime, he wants to look at purchasing two new fire trucks — a 2025 US Fire Apparatus Freightliner Commercial Pumper and a 2025 Deep South International Commercial Pumper.

According to the council meeting packet, the trucks cost $483,000 and $329,000, respectively.

Meacham said ideally the department would get a new engine in six months. However, he said it was more likely that it would take more than a year.

“If we find a cheaper engine that somebody’s selling that’s been produced, we’re buying someone else’s problems,” Meacham said. “I’ve already dumped a bunch of money trying to save our engine, and I’m at a point now where it’s unsavable.”

Mayor Marla Reed said the town will look into grants to obtain a new truck, but in the meantime she agreed that an interlocal agreement with Fire District 10 was the best option.

“An interlocal would be basically an agreement to provide services, and so we would share equipment,” Reed said. “There would be a cost, but it wouldn’t be more than what we’re already budgeting for the fire department.”

Reed agreed to draft an interlocal agreement to send to District 10.

Concrete’s next Town Council meeting will be at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 27. For more information, visit townofconcrete.com.

© 2025 the Skagit Valley Herald (Mount Vernon, Wash.). Visit www.goskagit.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The post Concrete (WA) VFD Engine Beyond Repair, Chief Says appeared first on Fire Apparatus: Fire trucks, fire engines, emergency vehicles, and firefighting equipment.

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