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Posted: Jun 1, 2025

Shelbina (MO) FPD Places New Engine, a ‘Major Upgrade’, in Service

The Shelbina (MO) Fire Protection District has placed new Engine 1, a 2025 E-ONE rescue-pumper, purchased from Banner Fire Equipment, in service, the department said in a Facebook post.

“(This) is a major upgrade for our department,” the post said.

Engine 1 is equipped with a 1,500-gallon-per-engine (gpm) pump, carries 1,000 gallons of water, and 30 gallons of foam. It will also carry a full complement of rescue tools, enabling it to respond to a wide variety of emergencies.

This new truck, which replaces the 1999 Engine 2, brings with it a larger cab—capable of carrying six firefighters—along with many safety features designed to protect personnel on every call.

“We would like to thank our board of directors and the citizens of our fire district for their continued support,” the post said. “Your commitment to public safety helps make improvements like this possible.”

The post Shelbina (MO) FPD Places New Engine, a ‘Major Upgrade’, in Service appeared first on Fire Apparatus: Fire trucks, fire engines, emergency vehicles, and firefighting equipment.

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Posted: May 31, 2025

Teen Hits Cambridge Springs (PA) Pumper in Weekend Crash

ROCKDALE TOWNSHIP — A Cambridge Springs Volunteer Fire Department pumper truck sustained minor damage when a 17-year-old struck it in a crash over Memorial Day weekend, according to a report from Pennsylvania State Police at Meadville.

Neither the two drivers nor two passengers in the firetruck were injured in the crash, which took place Saturday at about 9:46 a.m. on Miller Station Road just south of Mackey Hill Road, according to the report.

When he saw a car coming fast around a curve toward the stopped firetruck he was driving, Chief Nathan Walczak had one thought on his mind.

“I was holding on, hoping they were going to stop in time, but they did not,” Walczak said, recalling the crash in a phone interview Thursday. “It could’ve been way worse. Everyone got very lucky — nobody was hurt. That’s the most important part.”

The crash occurred when the 17-year-old girl was traveling south on Miller Station Road and the firetruck, a 2013 Spartan Motors pumper, was stopped in the northbound lane, police reported. The girl, traveling at a high rate of speed, tried to navigate a right-hand curve in the roadway but crossed over into the northbound lane and struck the truck before she could stop.

Walczak said that Cambridge Springs firefighters had been on a training exercise with Rockdale Township staff members and were following their counterparts back to the Rockdale Township building, located near the intersection of Miller Station and Mackey Hill roads. As a Rockdale Township front loader was pulling into the township building, he saw the 17-year-old’s car coming around the curve just north of where he was stopped.

The girl’s 1999 Toyota Corolla sustained functional damage in the crash, according to police, who did not release the driver’s name due to her age.

The fire truck sustained minor damage to its front bumper, Walczak said, and remains in service. In addition to Walczak, two other firefighters were riding in the truck, a 63-year-old man and a 28-year-old man. Both drivers and passengers were wearing seat belts at the time of the crash, according to police.

The crash was recorded by security cameras at the Rockdale Township building, according to police. After reviewing footage of the incident, police charged the 17-year-old driver with failure to drive on the right side of the roadway.

Walczak said it was the first time a department vehicle had been involved in a crash since he became chief in 2023.

© 2025 The Meadville Tribune (Meadville, Pa.). Visit meadvilletribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The post Teen Hits Cambridge Springs (PA) Pumper in Weekend Crash appeared first on Fire Apparatus: Fire trucks, fire engines, emergency vehicles, and firefighting equipment.

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Posted: May 31, 2025

New Northville Township (MI) Public Safety Headquarters Will Improve Response Times, Officials Say

Julia Cardi
The Detroit News
(TNS)

A new public safety headquarters has opened on Seven Mile Road in Northville Township, turning the site of the abandoned former psychiatric hospital into a second police and fire station for the township that officials say will improve response times for paramedics and firefighters.

Officials said in a news conference Thursday the new building represents Northville Township’s commitment to public safety services and providing amenities that are fitting for the community as the population grows. The 2020 Census recorded the township’s population at more than 31,000.

“We’re celebrating a promise fulfilled,” said Township Manager Glenn Caldwell. “The promise to protect, to serve and to secure the well-being of every member of the community for generations to come.”

The 96,000-square-foot facility, known as the Essential Services Complex, also now houses the township’s Department of Public Works. It sits on several hundred acres that once hosted a state psychiatric hospital, which shut down in 2003. The property also includes Legacy Park, which has walking and biking trails.

Northville Township acquired the site in 2009. It used to hold 20 buildings, a water tower and power plant. The property’s first buildings were demolished in 2012, with the more than 250,000-square-foot psychiatric hospital coming down in 2018. A $12 million bond sale in late 2021 funded remaining demolition and inspections. Redeveloping the site included asbestos and lead abatement.

The police and fire departments’ other stations are both located on Six Mile Road.

The township’s police and fire chiefs say the new headquarters will improve response times because of the additional geographical coverage it provides to the northeast section of town. Fire Chief Brent Siegel told The News the department has a goal of getting to each call within six minutes. Before the opening of the new facility, he said the department achieved that about half the time. With the additional station, he said the department predicts it will hit the six-minute goal for at least 96% of calls.

Northville Township Essential Services Complex Station 2 kitchen area in Northville, Michigan on May 29, 2025. (Daniel Mears, The Detroit News)

“We spend a tremendous amount of time training in developing our staff, but the one operational deficiency that we could not address through training is our response times. Opening this station will significantly reduce respons

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Posted: May 31, 2025

SC Fire Apparatus Leaves Road, Overturns; Driver Cited

A Laurens County (SC) fire apparatus crashed Thursday, May 29, 2025, when it left the road, hit a ditch, overturned, and hit a tree, foxcarolina.com reported.

Troopers said the apparatus driver and the passenger were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, the report said.

According to officials, the apparatus driver was cited in connection with driving too fast for conditions, the report said.

The post SC Fire Apparatus Leaves Road, Overturns; Driver Cited appeared first on Fire Apparatus: Fire trucks, fire engines, emergency vehicles, and firefighting equipment.

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Posted: May 30, 2025

Fire Department Starts Driver Training Class After Fatal Apparatus Accident

Mike Hendricks
The Kansas City Star
(TNS)

Three and a half years after a young, inexperienced fire truck driver killed three people in a crash in Westport, and weeks after the city refused a payout for him, the Kansas City Fire Department has initiated a formal driver training program.

Like most of his peers over the past couple of decades at least, Dominic Biscari was in the process of learning to drive a 40,000-pound fire truck on the job when he ran a red light at full throttle while behind the wheel of Pumper 19 on Dec. 15, 2021.

The big rig hit a compact SUV that had the green light and was passing through the intersection at Broadway Boulevard and Westport Road. The impact killed the SUV’s two occupants, as well as a woman who was on the sidewalk. Her body was recovered hours afterwards from beneath the wreckage of a building that was also damaged in the crash.

The new training program is meant to prevent future tragedies like the one that haunts the victims’ families, ruined Biscari’s career and cost Kansas City taxpayers millions of dollars.

From now on, young firefighters who want to fill in as drivers on their way to becoming fully certified in that job will have classroom and hands-on training during a 40-hour course of instruction, the Kansas City Fire Department announced this week.

During a news conference on Thursday in the parking lot of the American Royal, Deputy Chief Steven Shaumeyer said the driver training program for “working out of class” (fire department lingo for filling in for someone in a more senior position) was part of an overall increase in emphasis on professional development within the department by his boss, Chief Ross Grundyson.

Response to fatal crash?

Shaumeyer would not respond directly to repeated questions as to whether the new training had any direct connection to the Westport crash, which in addition to the lives lost cost the city $3.6 million in settlements paid to the victims and owner of the damaged building.

And that bill could rise. The city recently refused to approve a more than $900,000 settlement to Biscari to settle a legal dispute over the fire department’s failed attempt to fire him. An arbitrator ruled that his termination was unwarranted, in part, because the department allowed firefighters to drive fire trucks without formal training.

The city took steps to terminate Biscari after he pleaded guilty while maintaining his innocence (what’s known as an Alford plea) to three counts of involuntary manslaughter in 2023 and was sentenced to probation.

Shaumeyer said it was “not within my purview” to discuss whether the new training course might have helped prevent the Westport accident or others and changed the subject to discuss the broader training program.

“Chief Grundyson, two years ago, set a big goal of expanding professional development within the KCFD,” said Shaumeyer, who heads that division within the department. “We’ve added approximately 15 people to our division, and so we’ve expanded training throughout the department.”

Atop the list is training for firefighters who want to work as apprentice drivers when no certified driver is available. As Shaumeyer outlined the program to reporters, eight young men who graduated from the department’s academy within the past two years stood in a half circle across the parking lot.

They were gathered around Capt. John Young as he lectured from the bucket

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