A car fire has blocked all lanes of the SR 520 floating bridge Wednesday morning. As of 10:30 a.m., vehicles are getting by in one of the lanes. The Washington State Department of Transportation urges drivers to "use caution in this area and expect delays."
- PUB DATE: 7/20/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOMO-TV ABC 4 Seattle

The Crane Township and Cecil (OH) Fire Department recently put a new pumper in service after raising taxes for the past three years, according to a report published by The West Bend News.

The new apparatus was built by Pierce Manufacturing on a Freightliner cab and chassis at a cost of $423,000, according to the newspaper, that also reported the truck is equipped with a 1,250-gpm pump, a 1,000-gallon tank and a Husky foam system. The truck was built in Bradenton, FL, and features slide-outs in compartments for tools, the paper says.

The U.S. departments of Agriculture, Homeland Security and the Interior, along with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), announced the 11 federal and 36 non-federal commission members on July 7. More than 500 applications were submitted for the positions. Eli King, energy emergency management director for the Washington State Department of Commerce, was appointed to the national Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission earlier this month.
- PUB DATE: 7/19/2022 4:33:00 PM - SOURCE: KNDO-TV NBC 23 Yakima

An Oklahoma fire chief and firefighter jumped out of their brush truck seconds before it was over run by a massive wildland fire, according to a report published by KSWO ABC7.

According to the report the fire chief and firefighter were members of the New Hope Volunteer Fire Department and they were fighting a fire in the neighboring community of Cement. As they were fighting the fire, flames overran them and caught the truck on fire, the television station reported, adding the men jumped for their lives as flames consumed the apparatus.

A replacement truck will cost the department about $80,000 and the firefighters are seeking donations to cover the expense, the station reported.

According to a report from FOX16, Alexander (AR) Fire Department (AFD) crews were apparently left without any working fire trucks over the past weekend.

AFD Chief Mark Ridgeway said he has five apparatus in his fleet, but the last remaining operational truck went down last week because of a blown tire.

Ridgeway said that, although maintenance is routine on all AFD vehicles, the fleet is aging, and a new truck could cost more than $1 million on an already stretched budget. As a result, crews from neighboring towns are being called in for mutual aid. One example took place at 6:20 a.m. Monday morning, when Shannon Hills volunteer firefighters were called to help a woman who was not breathing.

Records revealed that rescue personnel arrived on scene in less than 10 minutes. However, officials said that, even if AFD trucks were running, it would not have changed the outcome; the victim was deceased when crews arrived.

Ridgeway lamented his department’s aging fleet and said things are getting worse by the day.

As of Monday evening, the AFD has one working engine, and they are once again taking calls. Ridgeway said he hopes to have the remaining fire trucks operational again in the next few days.

Alexander Mayor Paul Mitchell said the current situation is new to the town, but also said it has never been left without fire protection because of its mutual-aid agreements with neighboring cities.

Mitchell said the trucks are older but still repairable and fixable, and that the city has made previous attempts to get grants to buy new trucks. However, the city was never awarded the grants.