The Camden City Council unanimously approved the purchase of a new pumper fire truck, reports Camden News.

The Pierce Saber FR will be purchased from the Houston Galveston Area Cooperative.

A two-percent discount at purchase time will save the city $10,000, plus $32,000 that the council will pay upon delivery means that all in all $532,000 will be spent on the truck.

Plans to build a new West Lebanon fire station is drawing opposition from neighbors who worry that ambulances and fire trucks could disrupt the quiet neighborhood, reports Valley News.

The project is estimated to cost $6.4 million if a sale of the property can be negotiated this year.

A fire official said that the current station responds to about 775 emergency calls a year, with 550 of those within West Lebanon itself.

The University of Illinois bomb squad was dispatched to a fire station where a resident brought what they thought was a stick of dynamite, reports Herald & Review.

Firefighters moved the object away from buildings and notified the bomb squad while police kept onlookers away.

The stick was actually a road flare, but fire officials were pleased that the proper precautions were taken.

According to a report from WSLS, a $175,000 air truck was donated Wednesday morning and delivered to Mount Hermon Fire and Rescue in Danville, Virginia.

Mike Ownbey, President & CEO of Morgan Olson in Ringgold, presented the truck to Pittsylvania County Public Safety. Morgan Olson builds walk-in vans.

Public Safety Director Chris Slemp noted that, because of where this new truck will be stored, it will cut down response times from an hour down to about 20 minutes.

This air truck will be the second of its kind in Pittsylvania County; the other such truck is being stored on the county’s north end. This vehicle will be stored on the south end and is expected to be put to be ready for action soon.

Slemp and his crew of 400 volunteer firefighters protect Pittsylvania, the state’s largest and most rural county, and is why Bob Warren, Board of Supervisors Chairman, says they are out to get the members the funding they need. The new air truck will be just one piece of the puzzle.

Many volunteers arrive on incident scenes in their own vehicles, without an air tank. The truck has an air pumping tank, critical to their safety. It will also give them a place to treat volunteers who are tired or injured while working.

The new air truck will be used throughout the region in surrounding counties and cities.

The Chuweah Creek Fire, burning northeast of Nespelem on the Colville Indian Reservation, had charred about 36,690 acres of land as of Thursday morning, July 22. Containment was at 40 percent, according to Northwest Incident Management Team 12. Blowing embers on the upper eastern section of the blaze caused two small spot fires Wednesday, but firefighters jumped on them quickly, said officials.
- PUB DATE: 7/22/2021 1:09:23 PM - SOURCE: Omak-Okanogan County Chronicle