The Boswell (PA) Volunteer Fire Department Wednesday held a ground-breaking ceremony for its new station.

“Since its founding in 1908, the Boswell Volunteer Fire Department has called the 600 block of Hower Avenue home. In 1959, the original wood frame building was torn down and in its place a brick and cinder block structure was erected. This building at 606 Hower Avenue has been our base of operations for over six decades and has been able to be adapted to more or less meet the growing and changing needs of the department, the department said on Facebook.

“But operating a modern public safety agency requires a modern facility. We have quite literally outgrown the current station. Undersized garage bays limit the types of vehicles we can purchase, and have been the cause of numerous scratches and dents to our apparatus. Ambulance staff bunking in overnight lack private quarters in which to sleep. Spare equipment is packed into nearly every corner, nook, and cranny throughout the station. 606 Hower Ave has been a great home, but it’s time for an upgrade…

“And that upgrade begins [Wednesday]. Through the generosity of an anonymous donor, along with grant funding, we are officially breaking ground on a new and modern station to be built on our bingo hall/firemen’s grove property just down the street at 201 Hower Ave. This project has truly been years in the making, and once completed will help us in providing quality emergency service to our community for years to come.

“You’re invited to join us Wednesday afternoon at 4pm as we welcome Senator Pat Stefano, other local leaders, and the media for our official groundbreaking. And don’t forget to watch with us in the months ahead as our new home takes shape!”

An accident that destroyed a $400,000 Anderson County (SC) 2014 fire engine and left a firefighter charged with DUI will be a test for the county’s volunteer firefighter system as a tax increase for new engines will begin to show up in tax bills in the coming weeks, reports independentmail.com.

The tax increases, narrowly approved by voters in May, are expected to be about $0.77 extra for a $100,000 home or $2.12 for a $300,000 home in the first year of a multi-year increase, the report says.

It’s not clear what the insurance will be or how much, if any, of the new collections will go toward a replacement for the wrecked apparatus that served the Starr community, according to the report.

Officials say it will take some time for the insurance and investigation process to unfold. They had planned to buy three new engines this year but will only be buying two because it may take some time for the investigations to conclude.

The destroyed apparatus immediately replaced by a backup, which the county keeps several of around, the report says.

We had a push-in ceremony to celebrate a new fire engine now in service at Station 16 (Pantops).

Push-in ceremonies call back to the 1800's when apparatus was pulled by horses and had to be pushed into the bay.

We don't have the horses, but we still have the traditions. pic.twitter.com/otyGPqreMv

— Albemarle FireRescue (@AlbemarleFire) October 6, 2021

The Albemarle (VA) County Department of Fire Rescue’s new engine will serve Pantops, the surrounding areas, and be the first to run fire calls from Pantops’ Station 16, reports cbs19news.com.

The apparatus cost $850,000 and was part of an 18-month project, officials say, and it was funded through the Capital Improvement Project plan.

The new engine aims to better support Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital and local senior living facilities.

In addition, the report says the department hired 22 new firefighters and is looking for more.

Learn more about how this engine fits into a larger initiative to enhance fire rescue service in Albemarle County: https://t.co/BW99LZO7FC

— Albemarle FireRescue (@AlbemarleFire) October 6, 2021

The City of Wilmington (NC) held a public meeting Wednesday morning to share plans for a new fire station as well as two additional parks in the neighborhood, reports wwaytv3.com.

The construction of Station 6—which will have three bays and an exterior designed to blend with the existing Riverlights structures—is scheduled for Spring 2022 with an overall budget of $5.7 million coming from the FY 22 Capital Improvement Fund, the report says.

It will serve the Riverlights community, the Echo Farms community, and a portion of Independence Boulevard. The two parks are set to be built in the neighborhood, too, with one adjacent to Station 6.

@CityofWilm announcing a new $5.7M fire department will be built in the Riverlights Community that will serve this area as well as a portion of Independence Blvd and the Echo Farms Community. Also announcing two new parks will be built in Riverlights! pic.twitter.com/bxhf028mes

— Sydney Bouchelle (@sydbouchelletv) October 6, 2021

Frederick N. Rasmussen

Baltimore Sun

(MCT)

In late September, the Baltimore City Fire Department renamed Engine Company 52 on West Baltimore’s Woodbrook Avenue the Hilton L. Roberts Sr. Fire Station in honor of a pioneering Black firefighter who was a member of the second class that integrated the city’s firefighter academy and the fire department in 1954.

Roberts’ children and other descendants attended the event with Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, city Fire Chief Niles R. Ford, City Council President Nick Mosby, City Council Vice President Sharon Green-Middleton and 7th District Councilman James Torrence.

Engine 52′s renaming to the Hilton L. Roberts Sr. Fire Station marks the fourth city firehouse to honor Black Baltimore firefighters.

Engine Company 13 and Truck Company 16 in the 400 block of McMechen St. was named the Arthur “Smokestack” Hardy Fire Station in 2004. Hardy had not been a member of the 1954 class, but in 1942, he and 14 other Black men formed an auxiliary fire department.

Today, 9/23/2021, a fire station renaming ceremony was held in honor of Hilton L. Roberts., Sr., one of the eight African American firefighters to first enter #BMORESBravest in 1954, at our station of Engine Co 52, 3525 Woodbrook Av 21217 #ParkviewWoodbrook @JamesTorrenceJD pic.twitter.com/TvDejXS5nj

— Baltimore Firefighters IAFF Local 734 (@BCFDL734) September 23, 2021

The department allowed the auxiliary firefighters to train and ride with regular city firefighters, and after the department integrated, Hardy chose to stay with the auxiliary.

In 2005, Charles R. Thomas Sr., who also graduated from Baltimore’s fire academy in 1954, attended the ceremony that renamed Engine Company 36 on Edmondson Avenue after him. A year later, Engine Company 29 on Park Heights Avenue was named for Littleton B. Wyatt Sr., a Morgan State College graduate who also was a member of the second fire academy class to graduate African Americans.

Roberts, who was born in Baltimore in 1925, was raised in the city’s Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood, and graduated from Frederick Douglass High School. His father, Martin Roberts, was a longshoreman, and his mother, Sara Brooks Roberts, an accomplished seamstress.

“He was 17 when he enlisted in the Navy in 1942,” said his son, Keith A. Roberts, a retired federal agent and Marine Corps veteran who worked for the Department of Homeland Security. “He served during World War II, and even though the military was segregated, he did very well and rose to become a petty officer. In those days, it was difficult to get that rank, but he was a pioneer in so many ways.”

Roberts was discharged at the war’s end in