According to a report from Foster’s Daily Democrat, the city of Somersworth, New Hampshire, is still on track to finance its new fire station project after the City Council agreed Monday to use reserve funds to pay for a large amount of the $1.3 million budget increase on the building.

The new station will replace the existing 45-year-old, 8,100-square-foot station located at 195 Maple Street. The city originally approved a $7.7 million bond to finance the station, but city officials now say the cost has increased to a guaranteed price of $9 million. This maximum potential cost doesn’t include interest accrued from the existing bond.

Last week, a special City Council meeting discussed that either the project will be delayed or the city could finance it with $240,000 from the fund balance toward the station, $600,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to pay for ventilation system costs, increasing the bond commitment by five years, and increasing the bond authorization by $460,000 to a total bond authorization of $8.1 million.

During the Monday meeting, Councilor Matt Gerding suggested that Somersworth still use ARPA funds, but that it ups the reserve funds it plans to commit to the project instead of extending the price and life of the bond, which the city estimates could accumulate $1.7-2 million in interest, if extended.

Gerding said that Somersworth’s reserve funds sit with the city’s undesignated money and is similar to a savings account. He proposed an amendment to the resolution on financing the station which will appropriate $700,000 from the general fund unassigned to the fund balance. 

Deputy Mayor Dave Witham agreed that this was a better funding mechanism; although the fund acts as the city’s personal savings account, it is funded enough to support the appropriation. Witham also said the policy states that the fund balance should be somewhere between 5 and 15 percent of the city’s annual operating budget.

After responding to a medical call early Saturday morning, Honolulu (HI) Fire Department (HFD) firefighters discovered their truck had been stolen, reports hawaiinewsnow.com.

Department officials say personnel responded to a medical call at a home on Farrington Highway at around 3:30 a.m. Upon arrival, HFD entered the home and left the ladder truck running with its lights on—standard procedure in such emergencies.

Officials say the crew exited the home at 4 a.m. when they discovered the truck was gone and immediately notified police.

Authorities said officers found the fire truck and the suspect, who was promptly arrested, minutes later at a 7-11 in Makaha. No injuries—and nothing missing and no damage to the truck—were reported.

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The Stafford (NJ) Volunteer Fire Co. on Friday welcomed a Pierce Enforcer 107-foot aerial ladder truck to its Station 47 on Stafford Avenue, reports thesandpaper.net.

Last July, the township council gave the department the green light to acquire the nearly $1.1 million apparatus from Fire and Safety Services Ltd., based in South Plainfield.

The single-axle truck carries 500 gallons of water and has galvanized frame rails to help alleviate corrosion from salt water. In addition, it has a saw box on the side of the ladder, so it’s more easily accessible as firefighters make the climb.

According to a report from WANE, a ribbon cutting ceremony was held Tuesday in New Haven, Indiana, to celebrate the the completion of the expansion of the New Haven Fire/EMS’s main fire station.

New Haven Mayor Steven McMichael said that the expansion was dedicated to the men and women of public safety.

McMichael also said the building will also be used as a vaccination and COVID-19 testing site as well as a heating or cooling shelter during mass power outages.

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