VIDEO: Firefighters know that every time they start the engine on a big diesel truck, they are burning money. Diesel is averaging $7.42 a gallon, up $2.35 from this time last year and just shy of the record of $7.47 set in September. Fuel prices are so high that fire engines might as well be measured differently. “It could be more like it gets a couple gallons per mile,” Darrington Fire Chief Joel Johnson joked.

In reality, the trucks get 8 or 9 miles per gallon on a good day, and they burn fuel even when parked because engines run to power the pumps. In Darrington, fuel costs have climbed 30% to 40% in recent weeks. The department expects to spend more than $26,000 on fuel by the end of the year.

“We try to project, but I don’t think anybody was projecting fuel prices were going to hit this high,” Johnson said. Fire departments across the state are freezing vehicle maintenance, putting off equipment upgrades and scaling back driver training to pay for fuel. At the same time, demand is growing. Darrington’s call volume is steadily rising — up 8% from last year.

KING-TV NBC 5 Seattle

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Lake Geneva City Council authorized negotiations to buy 16 acres on South Edwards Blvd. for a proposed public safety building to house the fire and police departments.

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Tri-Township Fire Department opened a new Sellersburg headquarters and added its first heavy rescue truck, a $10.5 million upgrade funded by a 20-year bond.

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San Miguel Fire Department got $1 million in federal funding to build an emergency operations center and multi-use public safety building to coordinate disaster responses in San Miguel.

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A man was charged with stealing brass valves from 43 St. Louis fire hydrants, leaving them inoperable and causing at least $215,000 in damage, police said.

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