According to a report from KRCR, construction will now commence on the Shasta County Riverside Avenue Fire Station 47 in Anderson, California, after Tuesday morning’s groundbreaking ceremony made it official.

The new station will be located west of Interstate 5 and Highway 273 near Riverside Avenue.

Shasta County Fire Department Chief Bret Gouvea said he hopes Station 47 will provide them additional capability equip them when responding to emergency calls throughout the community.

Fire Station 47 will allow immediate and quick response time to Shasta County’s estimated 30,000 residents as well as those calls to businesses in unincorporated areas.

Approximately three firefighters will be stationed there each day, with the possibility more personnel being on call there in the future.

The construction of Station 47 is estimated to be complete in one year, but completion times may vary based on the weather.

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.