Leaders in Loudoun County's volunteer fire community celebrated a mix of the old and the new Sunday. Men and women from the county's longest-running fire company, Leesburg Volunteer Fire Company, took part in a century-old tradition to christen a shiny, new fire engine. With Mayor Kelly Burk mann

Aging fire trucks, like old soldiers, never die. Resourceful fire departments just find new uses for the old equipment.The vehicles usually become part of a department's reserve fleet or end up benefiting cash-strapped volunteer fire departments. The Tuscaloosa Fire and Rescue Service will receive two new pumpers and a new ladder truck sometime in March.

Government slashes 287 management jobs, shuffles departments Updated story: The provincial government took a major step towards downsizing the civil service Wednesday and reorganized government departments in line with Premier Dwight Ball's vision of a "flatter, leaner structure" for public services.

Stockdale firefighters answered the call when a structure fire broke out on Railroad Street, just a block from the fire station. The department's pumper truck was the second vehicle on the scene during the blaze, which broke out about two years ago. "It made a difference that day," Stockdale fire Chief Tom Wilkinson said of the pumper truck.