Ground was broken on Tuesday (Sept. 14) for a new $9 million fire station for the Somersworth (NH) Fire Department, according to a story published by Foster’s Daily Democrat.

According to the newspaper, the new station will replace one that was built in 1976 using the help of the local high school trade school students and has some deficiencies.

The new station will be built on the current site and the existing building 8,100 square foot building as the new 18,281-square-foot fire station is constructed and occupied in phases, according to the newspaper, that added the plan is to keep the fire station operational as the new building is constructed.

The new five-bay station will have an operational wing, an administration wing, a main lobby as well as a wing for private space for firefighters including locker room, kitchen, a day room and bunks as well as space for proper gear storage, according to the newspaper which reported completion is expected in early 2023.

Construction has begun to replace Kidron (OH) Volunteer Fire Department’s decades-old station, reports the-daily-record.com, as workers recently erected the new building’s frame and started work on its trusses prior.

The estimated cost to raze the old facility and build the new 14,800-square-foot station is about $2.6 million—most of which the department had hoped to fund with donations, the report says.

The new digs—being built at the site of the former building, at Kidron and Emerson roads—will address its predecessor’s lack of storage and safety issues. Hoses, trucks, and other equipment were often stored in a separate building, according to the report.

In addition to new bays, the station will feature a wash bay, a tower for a fire hose drying rack, office space, a large meeting room, sleeping quarters, and an exercise room, as well as a kitchen, laundry and locker room facilities, the report notes.

Florence County (SC) is getting ready to order up to 19 new fire apparatus to update a fleet that includes 30-year-old fire trucks, according to a report published by the website SCNOW.com.

Recently, the Florence County Unified Fire District council considered authorizing a grant and a third penny sales tax to make the apparatus purchase, according to the website.

The plan includes two new tanker trucks and two rescue trucks for Hannah-Salem-Friendfield, a new rescue truck and a new ladder truck for Johnsonville, two engines, two tankers and two rescues for Howe Springs, two engines for West Florence, one engine for Sardis-Timmonsville, one engine for Olanta, and two brush trucks for Windy Hill.

Video via ABC News

Country music star Reba McEntire had to be evacuated on a fire ladder from a second-story window after a staircase collapsed in an old building Tuesday afternoon in Atoka (OK), reports ABC News.

“While my team and I were in Atoka, OK yesterday checking out an old historical building, a staircase collapsed,” she said on Twitter. “Thankfully, no one was seriously injured. We were safely evacuated from the building thanks to the quick response from the Atoka fire and police departments.”

McEntire was in town checking out the 100-plus-year-old building for a potential project.

Officials say the stairwell between the second and third stories collapsed—falling onto the first-to-second-floor stairs and trapping people. The fire department had to help people out via the second-story window.

While my team and I were in Atoka, OK yesterday checking out an old historical building, a staircase collapsed. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured. We were safely evacuated from the building thanks to the quick response from the Atoka fire and police departments.

— Reba McEntire (@reba) September 15, 2021

A $763,000 federal Assistance to Firefighter Grant will help the Bellefontaine (OH) Fire Department purchase a 100-foot platform aerial, according to a report published by PeakofOhio.com.

According to the website the aerial the department has currently was bought in 1995 and was purchased with funds from a one percent income tax.

The fire chief told the city councilors there were six manufacturers that could build the truck to fit into the fire station and the department is looking to get competitive bids for the new truck, according to the report, adding that the department hopes to have the truck in service within a year.