President Joe Biden is taking steps to restore national forests that have been devastated by wildfires, drought and blight, using an Earth Day visit to Seattle to sign an executive order protecting some of the nation’s largest and oldest trees. Old-growth trees are key buffers against climate change and provide crucial carbon sinks that absorb significant amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.
- PUB DATE: 4/22/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KING-TV NBC 5 Seattle

Poway city council recently voted to purchase a $1.65 million replacement ladder truck, reports sandiegouniontribune.com.

It won’t be delivered for about two years, but when it arrives it will replace a 2006 model.

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The price would be 7% more ($110,000) if the department waited until May to purchase the truck, the report says.

Once it arrives, its predecessor will be used for spare parts and the rest auctioned off.

Two families were displaced Thursday afternoon in an apartment building fire in the Minnehaha area. The Vancouver Fire Department responded at about 1 p.m. to the Willowbrook Apartments, 3607 N.E. 51st St., after an apartment manager called in the fire. The first crew to arrive found heavy smoke coming from the front of a first-floor apartment and spreading to the unit above it, according to fire department spokesman Raymond Egan.
- PUB DATE: 4/21/2022 6:05:43 PM - SOURCE: The Columbian

Following talks that began last September, the St. Lucie County Fire District is donating one of its rescue trucks to the African nation of Liberia, reports wptv.com.

Related: St. Lucie (FL) County Fire District Welcomes Fire Apparatus

The district was holding two apparatus as reserves in the midst of the COVID scare, but since that has let up a bit it decided to follow through with the donation, the report says.

Officials describe the truck as a hospital on wheels. It’s being driven to the Port of Jacksonville, at which it will be shipped to its new home. They anticipate a delivery date of about 90 days.

What would you do if you had $12,000 to burn?

Randall, who runs FEDS Apparel, a company that supplies apparel to police, decided to put his 12 G’s to good use and purchased a fully functional Pierce pumper off Craigslist.

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The Nick OFF Duty YouTube channel has video, and he says the apparatus “will be used for community outreach. We exist because of the men and women who put on the uniforms.”

The plan is to remove the water tank and replace it with a keg system with eight beers on tap, four Slurpee-type machines, and a sound-system. Once complete, it will be used pro-bono at agency and charity events.

“It’s all about humanizing the badge and giving back,” he says.