The first look at a planned station for the Flandreau (SD) Fire Department shows a building with seven bays, a gear room, a meeting room, a kitchen and laundry room, storage, and the potential showroom for the city’s antique truck, reports MoodyCountyEnterprise.com.

The proposal is expected to cost about $2.7 million and aims to give the department more space than its current station offers. The city is looking for grants and other funding sources to decrease the price for Flandreau taxpayers.

The new digs would be a pre-engineered metal structure with exposed trusses. The city of Flandreau has the option to cut the display bay for the 1925 LaFrance truck, which is stored on Second Avenue next to the Crystal Theatre.

The next phase is to break out the costs of materials based on specific dimensions and develop the design further. City council members will host a public informational meeting on that in June, officials say.

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The City of Kewanee (IL) has its 1990 Spartan DS26-2042 chassis truck for sale on eBay, reports IllinoisNewsNow.com.

The apparatus has been out of service for the Kewanee Fire Department for three years and is now being sold as excess.

As of this posting, the highest bid is $500.

Bowling Green (KY) Fire Department’s Station 7 officially opened and started taking calls on Sunday, reports WBKO.com.

The station, which will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony on June 7 at 3:30 p.m., covers roughly the area between Fairview and Scottsville Road.

The station houses one fire engine and three to four crew members. Its garage doors are built in a tri-fold manner—opening from side-to-side instead of up-and-down.

The department plans to install a Safe Haven Baby Box at the station, which allows mothers in crisis to safely and anonymously surrender an unwanted newborn within three days of its birth.

Fort St. John (B.C., Canada) council approved Tuesday the sale of Engine 1 for $100 to the Firefighters Charitable Society, reports EnergeticCity.ca.

Firefighters are looking to repurpose Engine 1, the city’s first fire truck, and use it during events. In the future, they plan to have the truck on display in the fire hall.

Officials say there were discussions about the city taking on the restoration project. However, expending public funds for a restoration project became an issue.

Engine 1 is in “reasonable mechanical condition” but isn’t roadworthy and would cost $50,000 to restore, an official says. The city could auction off the apparatus or dispose of it, but the city would then lose the historical value.

Starting in 2016, the Firefighters Charitable Society has given back $300,000 to the community to assist 120 families with medical travel needs.

Firefighters wipe out blaze that jumped across open water to Voyageurs National Park

SUPERIOR, Wis. (May 25, 2021) – Northern Minnesota’s International Falls Fire Department (IFFD), together with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, quickly extinguished a dangerous wildfire on the shore of Rainy Lake. On May 18th, amid elevated fire danger conditions and high winds, the fire jumped across open water from Frank Island to Voyageurs National Park on the U.S. mainland, but those responding swiftly extinguished it with help from a new Lake Assault Boats fireboat.

The fireboat, featuring a 375 gpm fire pump, was acquired by Koochiching County’s Rural Fire Protection Association through revenue derived from a recently expanded taxing district within its borders, and is operated under contracted services with the IFFD. A recent survey distributed to property owners showed that 72 percent of respondents favored the purchase of the fireboat.

“Fortunately, we keep the fireboat stationed on Rainy Lake about three and a half miles from Frank Island, and were able to arrive on scene within thirty minutes of receiving the emergency call,” recalled Fire Chief Adam Mannausau of the International Falls Fire Department, “Other agencies on hand included the Minnesota DNR and the Koochiching County Sheriff’s Department. Together, we were able to quickly knock down the blaze and prevent it from becoming much worse due to strong winds and large amounts of very dry fuel.” 

The Lake Assault Boats fireboat is 22-feet long and features a modified V-hull design that is able to operate in very shallow waters. It is configured with twin 175-hp outboard motors that are seamlessly managed through a one-touch joystick system. “We were operating in very shallow water, and the joystick system allowed our craft to safely maneuver laterally along a rocky shoreline and maintain an optimal angle to the blaze,” explained Chief Mannausau. 

The vessel is also equipped with a full-width T-top pilothouse (offering an interior clearance height of 76-inches), and its ergonomic helm station features a 12-inch Garmin touchscreen integrated with GPS, maps, chart plotter, sonar with structure and side scan, and forward looking infrared. “Rainy Lake is known for its rocky, granite terrain and the FLIR system has proven to be indispensable,” added Mannausau.

The fire was contained to a 3-4 acre footprint on Rainy Lake’s Frank Island, and just one-quarter acre in Voyageurs National Park. No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire is under investigation. 

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