The Seaford Fire Department has received a $600,000 grant from the state of New York for the purchase of new generators and breathing apparatus, reports liherald.com.

A total of about $2.3 million was distributed to fire districts throughout Senate District 8 via the state budget.

The department requested funding for an emergency generator to power the firehouse in the event of a power outage, as officials say the current generator is more than 50 years old and ill-equipped for use.

Approximately $350,000 has been appropriated for the generator, and the remaining funds will go to the SCBA apparatus.

The Flower Mound (TX) Town Council unanimously approved a 20-year cooperative agreement with Highland Village and Lewisville for a 9,000-square-foot joint fire training facility, reports communityimpact.com.

The Lewisville Fire Department approached the other two departments in 2019 about a joint agreement, the report says. The Lewisville fire training facility could no longer be used safely, they said.

The deal divides both the initial capital cost of the facility and the amount of time each fire department will have access to the facility, according to the report; Lewisville has 51.6% of the cost and time, Flower Mound has 40.6%, and Highland Village is at 7.8%. The total cost is more than $4.9 million, with Flower Mound responsible just over $2 million.

The agreement says the city of Lewisville would solely own the facility, but it would grant the Flower Mound and Highland Village departments access. The deal begins once construction is complete and accepted, the report says, and it includes automatic one-year renewals unless cities provide notice of nonrenewal.

The new facility—which officials anticipate will be ready about 18 months after construction begins—will be located where the old Lewisville facility currently stands, 701 E. Valley Ridge Blvd.

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By Bill Adams

Maybe I should hang it up and spend my remaining time strapped in a rocking chair drooling all over myself on the porch down at the Happy Valley Convalescent Home. Times are changing, and I have a hard time adjusting. Take ladder trucks as an example, and in particular tillers, also known as TDAs and tractor-drawn aerials. They’re probably called TDAs because people today can’t remember if there’s one or two L’s in tiller.

I recall the 1923 Stutz city-service ladder truck my father’s fire company ran in the early 1950s. He grumbled when they bought the 1953 75-foot Maxim aerial. He thought the world was coming to an end because they put doors on it. When we went into the “city” I became enamored with tillers, including the 1942 100-foot American La France at Ladder 5 (photo 1) and the 1927 American La France with a 75-foot wooden aerial at Reserve Ladder 6 (photo 2). The 1963 Maxim 100-footer tiller (photo 3) at Ladder 10 caused dad to say, “The damn thing’s got a roof on it; that’s blasphemy!” I agreed. When I joined the fire company in the early 1960s, Station 1 ran a 1957 Mack with a 75-foot Maxim ladder and Station 2 ran a 1932 Ahrens Fox city-service ladder. No pumps and no roofs and no doors on the Fox.