Rick Freier, a fire investigator who’s been with the Spokane Valley Fire Department since 1999, sized up the students in Cristine Lapke‘s seventh-grade science class Wednesday and looked them in the eyes. Summer is around the corner, which means more kids will be at home and may be tempted to play with fire.
- PUB DATE: 6/5/2022 9:00:00 PM - SOURCE: Spokane Spokesman-Review - Metered Site

The Westfield Fire Department Wednesday broke ground for its new $12.8 million, 36,000-square-foot fire station and headquarters.

The new facility will replace the current fire station and headquarters at Westfield’s Public Safety Building, as FA reported last year.

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Station 81, to be located at the corner of 171st Street and Ditch Road, will boast eight drive-through bays, a kitchen, bunk rooms, a new training tower, workout room, living quarters, fleet services, locker rooms, and administrative offices.

The city has three fire stations—the most recent was Station 83 on Grassy Branch Road, finished in 2011.

Station 81 is scheduled to open in 2023. More info on it can be found here.

Addition of Engine Company in Far East County Represents 33% Increase in Fire Crew Availability, Comes at Time of Heightened Wildfire Danger

OAKLEY, CALIF. – Contra Costa County Fire Protection District (Con Fire) and East Contra Costa Fire Protection District (East Con) recently announced staffing of the new, but previously unopened, Fire Station 95 in Oakley. Beginning Wednesday, the station was fully staffed for the first time with a three-firefighter engine company equipped to dispatch on either the station’s standard Type 1 Engine 95 or its wildland firefighting Engine 395.

The addition of this fire crew is expected to have positive impacts on fire and emergency medical responses across the area, boosting firefighter availability by 33 percent in East County at a time of critically high wildfire danger. Engine 95 enters service as an Advanced Life Support (ALS) crew, a rolling emergency room staffed by a paramedic, as well as emergency medical technicians, a first for East County.

This staffing collaboration comes fully one month ahead of annexation of East Con by Con Fire and is an early reflection of the benefits residents in East County, and across the rest of the County, can expect to see from the newly expanded Con Fire.

“The opening of this station represents a landmark increase of services ready to respond to the communities of Bethel Island and the eastern portions of the City of Oakley. This is the first step with increased services that annexation with Con Fire is bringing us,” said Brian Helmick, fire chief, East Contra Costa Fire Protection District.

“Today’s unique collaborative effort between Con Fire and East Con Fire highlights the types of improvements to fire and EMS capabilities residents across the County can expect to realize from our upcoming annexation,” said Lewis Broschard, fire chief, Contra Costa County Fire Protection District. “Fire Station 95 is now delivering resources to a long-underserved part of the County. Working together with our East Con colleagues, we look forward to more such improvements as our July 1 annexation date nears.”

Fire Station 95 will support residents of the City of Oakley and surrounding communities along with the firefighters who staff it, allowing for better quality of life, health, training, and community interaction.

Con Fire & East Con today opened Fire Station 95 in Oakley, expected to shorten fire & EMS responses as much as 90 seconds. The collaboration is one month ahead of annexation of East Con by Con Fire & an early indicator of benefits residents can expect from the new Con Fire. pic.twitter.com/4A2aoy52h6

— Con Fire PIO (@ContraCostaFire) June 1, 2022

Total cost for the new station when built in 2020 was $10 million. Due to ongoing revenue challenges, the station was not staffed or opened at that time. Since completion, it has served as an administrative office for staff providing services to East County.

Designed with cancer prevention in mind, the station includes state-of-the-art gross decontamination showers

It’s a fire truck. It’s a jet. It’s technically both—and it will be on display at the 2022 Chippewa Valley Air Show (Eau Claire, WI).

The AFTERSHOCK Jet Fire Truck is built to look like a vintage fire engine, but it has a pair of Rolls-Royce jet engines hiding inside.

“This 1940 Ford Fire Truck boasts TWIN Rolls-Royce Bristol Viper Jet Engines totaling over 24,000 horsepower and holds the Guineas Record for Fire Trucks at an amazing 407 MPH!” the apparatus’ website states.

AFTERSHOCK will be doing five runs throughout the air show’s duration—one on Friday and two each on Saturday and Sunday.

Read more about AFTERSHOCK and SHOCKWAVE, a custom-built race truck equipped with three J34-48 Pratt & Whitney jet engines originally out of the USA Navy T2 Buckeye, here.

Singer Cardi B recently purchased a fire truck for the municipality of Castañuelas, in the Montecristi province of the Dominican Republic, after her native land had been lacking such an apparatus for more than 20 years, reports hoynoticias.com.do.

Officials say fire has been a problem that has led many to lose their homes, so the donation—not Cardi B’s first to the DR—is greatly appreciated.

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The donation was made through the father of Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar (Cardi B), Carlos Almanzar, the report says. Although the singer was born in the U.S., much of her family resides on the island.