Firefighters from the Seattle Fire Department were called Thursday to extinguish blazes at two different homeless encampments, including one located right outside City Hall. The first blaze occurred around 1 a.m. near 6th Ave. and James Street underneath Interstate 5 and near the James Street off-ramp.
- PUB DATE: 2/25/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOMO-TV ABC 4 Seattle

Several people were displaced Friday morning after an apartment fire in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood. At about 4:30 a.m., crews responded to reports of heavy smoke coming from a two-story apartment building in the 3600 block of Woodland Park Avenue North. When crews arrived, visible flames and heavy smoke was seen from the front side of the building’s first and second floor.
- PUB DATE: 2/25/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KCPQ-TV FOX 13 Seattle

Aerial operations are rare in the fire industry, but the Tolar Volunteer Fire Department (TVFD), along with every Hood County (TX) fire department, recently partook in such a response.

TVFD posted the video of its aerial tanker dropping retardant.

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“Many people saw the air tankers flying around the county today,” the department writes on Facebook. “Multiple fires popped up around Hood County and Tolar responded along with every department in the county. With continued low humidity, please no burning and watch those butts. Here is a video of one of the retardant drops.”

For the first time in its 70-year history, the Jefferson City (MT) Volunteer Fire Department has a new engine in service, according to a report published by KRTV 3.

The television station reported that the 2022 engine will replace a 1979 engine that was donated to the department a decade ago and the Jefferson City firefighters are hoping to donate it to another Montana fire department in need.

The brand new engine was funded by the Pegasus Gold Mine property tax and was ordered about a year ago, the television station reported, adding the new engine will accommodate five firefighters and one engineer. The previous truck would only handle three firefighters and an engineer.

White Bear Lake is planning a $12.5 million renovation and expansion of its public safety building, located next to City Hall, reports twincities.com.

The fire department’s 1961-built apparatus bay can’t accommodate additional sleeping quarters for the new full-time fire-and-ambulance response model, according to the report. Plus, the facility is without separate areas for firefighter training and to clean gear.

The project includes a 15,400-square-foot police squad garage and the replacement of the current fire apparatus bay with a $3.5 million, 11,200-square-foot one. Work is expected to start next fall, with a completion anticipated in spring 2023, the report says.

A 40-foot stair tower will be used for training, while also serving as a corner display for the department’s 1929 American LaFrance apparatus.

To fund it, the city estimates an $875,000 annual debt service over 20 years, though a bonding request has been made to the state legislature to pay for half of the total cost, according to the report.