Prior to the purchase, the fire department was relying on ambulances from the Charlottesville-Albemarle Rescue Squad.  

“Our firefighters that are assigned to these ambulances now and in the future will be able to fill multiple roles, including as firefighters. So we want to make sure that the ambulance is designed in such a way that’ll easily carry the equipment,” said Charlottesville Fire Department Chief Andrew Baxter.

The grants provide reimbursement of 80 percent of the total amount of the project. Grant recipients receive reimbursement only after the purchase or construction costs have been paid by the recipient, according to the Oklahoma Forestry Services website.

Sam’s Point Volunteer Fire Department, which is located three miles North West of Canadian, was one of 16 fire departments in Oklahoma to be awarded the grant. The grant will help purchase wildland gear and structure gear such as jackets, boots, gloves and other essential gear the firefighters can use.

Last week, the Glendale City Council unanimously approved a more than $700,000 project to design and build a Live Fire Modular Training Complex, also known as a “burn building,” for joint use by the city’s fire department and Glendale Community College’s Verdugo Fire Academy.  

Glendale-based engineering consultant United Engineering & Construction Inc. was awarded the contract to replace the 60-year-old concrete burn building, decommissioned in 2010, with a new facility constructed with steel shipping containers.

Space is the biggest issue with the current stations, including the fact that the space for hose drying does not have adequate ventilation, there is no drainage in the building and firefighters can’t get rid of waste water. As such, the trucks must be washed at the town’s Highway Department.  

Officials hope to wrap up site selection the early next year and get a proposal on the town ballot in June.

During the season of giving, it was fitting that a week before Christmas Repton Volunteer Fire Chief Joe Bartlett drove to Orange Beach with a few of his men to pick up a donated fire truck. In November, the Orange Beach City Council agreed to donate the surplus 1992 KME Renegade Fire Truck and some small equipment to its longtime sister city, Repton, after Orange Beach received lackluster offers on GovDeals.com, an online auction site for government surplus. Two attempts to auction the fire truck through GovDeals resulted in a high bid of less than $6,000, which was below the city’s reserve price. As a result, Orange Beach Fire Chief Justin Pearce recommended donating the fire truck to the Repton VFD. “For what little we could have gotten when we tried to sell it on GovDeals,” Chief Pearce explained, “there’s so much more value in giving it to someone who can use it. It will benefit the citizens and firefighters up there.”