ALBANY, New York—Congressman Paul D. Tonko recently announced the awarding of 13 federal grants totaling more than $5.45 million in funding for 11 Capital Region fire departments and EMS squads, according to a press release. The funding comes from two Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant programs for Fiscal Year 2024 — the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) program and the Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG) program.

The following five departments will receive the following amounts of funding from the FY2024 SAFER program to support the hiring of new firefighters and bolster recruitment and retention:

• City of Schenectady Fire Department: $2,008,304
• Rotterdam-Princetown Fire District #5: $821,192
• Halfmoon Hillcrest Volunteer Fire Department: $635,886
• S.W. Pitts Hose Company of Latham, NY: $426,838
• City of Rensselaer Fire Department: $237,090

The following eight departments will receive the following amounts of funding from the FY2024 AFG program to support improvements in equipment, operations, and safety:

• Round Lake Fire Department: $295,428
• Albany Fire Department: $266,181
• City of Schenectady Fire Department: $201,933
• Ravena Rescue Squad: $191,428
• Halfmoon Hillcrest Volunteer Fire Department: $137,142
• Glenville Fire District No. 2: $124,936
• Cohoes Fire Department: $85,714
• Voorheesville Fire Department: $27,450

Taken together, these significant grant awards will help recipients hire more firefighters, support essential training courses, improve recruitment and retention efforts, and purchase vital equipment like new turnout gear and personal protective equipment (PPE), turnout washer/dryer/extractors, Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) face masks, and more. Last December, Congressman Tonko submitted letters to FEMA in support of the City of Schenectady Fire Department and Voorheesville Fire Department’s requests for federal funding.

“Throughout my time in Congress, I’ve made it a top priority to ensure that our Capital Region firefighters and EMS squads have the resources, equipment, and support to continue serving our communities safely and effectively,” Congressman Tonko said. “These brave men and women put their lives on the line every single day to keep our families safe, and it is up to us as elected officials to make certain they are properly equipped to safely face the monumental challenges of their jobs. I’m proud to celebrate this significant federal investment in our local emergency responders, and I look forward to continuing my efforts to ensure our local fire departments and EMS squads have the tools and training they need to succeed.”

Each year, Congressman Tonko and his staff assist numerous local fire departments and EMS organizations by writing letters of support and helping to prepare their applications for these critical grants. Today’s announcement marks the completion of the competitive rounds of Fiscal Year 2024 SAFER and AFG funding, delivering a total of $5,459,522 for our Capital Region emergency responders.

Earlier rounds of AFG funding for Fiscal Years 2021, 2022, and 2023 delivered nearly $3 million for departments in Albany, Ballston Lake, Burnt Hills, Colonie, Glenvil

Amy Bounds
Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo.
(TNS)

Boulder County this week awarded about $2 million to mainly rural fire districts in the third round of fall grants from the Emergency Services Sales and Use Tax.

The grants, approved Tuesday by the Boulder County commissioners, were the third round awarded since the tax was approved by voters in 2022. In the fall of 2024, the county awarded $1.3 million in emergency services grants. In the fall of 2023, the first round totaled $1.6 million.

“We try to help those agencies that just don’t have as much mill levy or tax funding,” said Barb Halpin, Boulder County special projects coordinator.

Along with the fire protection district grants, the county awards grants to local search and rescue organizations in the spring. About a quarter of the money generated by the tax goes to emergency services grants, while about half is being spent on a new search and rescue building. The remaining quarter is earmarked for ambulance services and wildland firefighting staff.

The current round of grants was open to fire departments, fire protection districts and fire management teams that serve Boulder County’s mountain and rural areas. Boulder County received 21 funding proposals totaling about $5 million. The grant application were evaluated by an emergency services advisory committee.

The largest award, $246,551, went to the all-volunteer Indian Peaks Fire Protection District in Ward to replace a failing, 1992 truck with a newer, higher capacity brush truck to respond to abandoned campfires, smoke reports and wildland fires. The grant also includes funding to insulate and heat the station where the truck will be housed.

The smallest award was $1,950 for the Pinewood Springs Fire Protection District to buy tools to use in responding to crashes involving electric and hybrid cars and other emergencies involving rechargeable batteries.

Four grant requests were partially funded, while one request didn’t receive funding. That request came from Boulder Fire-Rescue, which asked for $1.98 million to replace its regional training burn building. According to the request, the live burn building is out of service because of structural integrity issues.

Halpin said the request wasn’t approved because it was close to the entire grant budget. Plus, she said, the project likely would qualify for state or federal funding.

“The grant program didn’t seem like the right venue,” she said.

The commissioners on Tuesday also questioned three requests that will require ongoing funding. While the commissioners approved the requests, they also agreed to a future discussion on whether the grant money should be limited to one-time expenses.

Those requests included $141,634 to enhance the county dispatch system with automatic voice alerting, replacing outdated technology and improving efficiency and alert quality. While most of the money will go to purchase equipment, it also will be used for an ongoing subscription service.

Boulder County asked for $65,780 to continue what started as a free pilot using wildfire detection cameras. The grant will pay for one year of monitoring services for the cameras, which are placed in backcountry areas. The third request that would require ongoing funding was $147,125 for emergency medical services training classes for 17 agencies, allowing rural fire departments to better respond to medical emergencies.

© 2025 the Daily Camera (Boulder, Colo.). Visit www.dailycamera.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The post Boulder Coun

Representing the 4,000th PUC™ Pump milestone, three new Pierce^® Velocity^® PUC Pumpers will enhance the Clark County Fire Department’s ability to protect one of the nation’s most dynamic and demanding response areas.

APPLETON, Wis. (December 4, 2025) – Pierce Manufacturing Inc., an Oshkosh Corporation (NYSE:OSK) business, announced today it has delivered its 4,000th Pierce Ultimate Configuration (PUC™) Pump. The milestone order and delivery, purchased through Pierce dealer Hughes Fire Equipment, goes into service with the Clark County Fire Department (CCFD) in Nevada.

Pierce’s PUC pump, first introduced in 2007, redefined traditional fire apparatus design by eliminating the need for a pumphouse. Available on pumpers, rescue pumpers, tankers, and aerials, the PUC water pump configuration streamlines vehicle layout to maximize space for equipment and simplify operation, while maintaining exceptional pump, foam, and water delivery performance.

“When we introduced the PUC pump, our goal was simple: listen to firefighters and design an apparatus that makes their jobs safer and more efficient,” said John Schultz, vice president and general manager – pumper products, Pierce Manufacturing. “To see it reach 4,000 deliveries nearly two decades later speaks to the trust fire departments place in Pierce and the dedication of the team members who have shaped the PUC pump’s evolution over the years.”

The CCFD serves one of the largest and most diverse response areas in the nation, spanning approximately 8,000 square miles throughout unincorporated Clark County, Nevada. CCFD’s jurisdiction includes the world-famous Las Vegas Strip, McCarran International Airport, major resorts, and large-scale entertainment venues, as well as rural desert terrain and recreation areas such as Red Rock Canyon and Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

With more than 1,400 personnel operating from dozens of strategically located stations, the department responds to a wide range of emergencies, from high-rise fires and hazardous materials incidents to wildland and technical rescue operations. CCFD’s need for durable, versatile apparatus capable of performing reliably across extreme conditions make the Pierce PUC Pumper an ideal configuration.

The full delivery includes three identical Pierce Velocity^® PUC Pumpers featuring:

• Velocity custom chassis
• PACCAR MX-13 510 hp engine with 1,850 lb-ft torque
• PUC 1500 GPM pump
• 750-gallon water tank
• TAK-4^® Independent Front Suspension
• PUC Pumper 189” body design
• Frontal impact protection
• Extreme Duty Air Conditioning Package
• Command Zone ^TM Advanced Electronics System
• HAAS Collision Mitigation System
• ClearSky Intelli

Stella Mayerhoff – Monterey Daily Herald

When a photographer donated two drones to Cal Fire’s San Benito-Monterey Unit in 2021, the act of generosity launched a drone program that would break records and save lives. A team of Cal Fire drone pilots uses specialized technology to conduct prescribed burns, search for missing or injured individuals and keep emergency responders safe.

The first pair of drones came without any guarantee that a drone program would get off the ground, figuratively or literally. “We didn’t know what to do with them. We didn’t even know how to take off,” says Cal Fire San Benito-Monterey Battalion Chief Josh Silveira. Today, Cal Fire San Benito-Monterey has the largest unmanned aircraft systems program of its kind in the state, in both number of pilots and flight hours. The 12 pilots in the unit fly hundreds of hours a year and, out of the 180 pilots working for Cal Fire, account for 40% of all drone flights.

Silveira admits he initially felt reluctant to join the program. However, he left flight training eager to upgrade and implement the unit’s drone technology. “We were flying antiques at the time. They didn’t even have a thermal camera,” he says. He attended the training with Cal Fire San Benito-Monterey Battalion Chief Tommy Headley, who says his early involvement in the program allowed him to influence its development. The two Battalion Chiefs returned from the training and advocated for the program to get drones with thermal technology. “It was off to the races from there,” says Silveira.

The Carmel Highlands Fire District, Cypress Fire District and Pebble Beach Community Services District all recognize the value of the program and support it. “We’ve had so many success stories that they’re invested in multiple levels, but the biggest one is financially. They’re purchasing most of our aircraft,” says Silveira. The program has an annual operating budget of $50,000, covering costs such as aircraft purchases and maintenance.

The program now boasts 19 aircraft, ranging from drones that cost a couple hundred dollars to the team’s five $100,000 specialized drones. The fleet of flying Swiss Army knives provides the team with high-zoom and wide-angle cameras, thermal imaging, aerial ignition capabilities and 88-pound cargo capacity. These tools aid in wildfire management, search and rescue, crowd management and risk reduction for first responders.

When it comes to fighting fire, drones serve several functions. Pilots monitor thermal cameras to help crews battle wildfires through real-time fire hot spot detection. Meanwhile, high-resolution aerial mapping can identify areas of highly flammable material and complete pre- and post-fire surveys of land to inform future fire prevention efforts, including those recently conducted in the Del Monte Forest.

One of the program’s most innovative uses of drones is aerial ignition. The team uses combustible balls known as Dragon Eggs to strategically start small fires to slow the spread of larger fires, particularly in areas not safely accessible by fire crews. “We’re able to alleviate a lot of that risk using the technology,” says Silveira. Specialized drones carry up to 450 Dragon Eggs, which resemble Ping-Pong balls and ignite through a chemical reaction between potassium permanganate and glycol. The team also hosts the National Aerial Ignition Academy in the Santa Lucia reserve, providing aerial ignition training.

The drones are also critical for search and rescue, including several rescues of lost hikers at Soberanes Point and the recent efforts to locate a missing child near Big Sur. Thermal cameras offer a critical opportunity to find hikers, disoriented residents and struggling swimmers in areas with low visibility. “The thermal signature of a person in the water in distress st

William J. Kemble
Daily Freeman, Kingston, N.Y.
(TNS)

SAUGERTIES, N.Y. — Village trustees are being asked to support the proposed purchase of a $1.1 million fire truck to replace a 23-year-old vehicle.

Fire Chief Chris Mason outlined problems with the current vehicle during the Village Board’s meeting on Monday, Dec. 1.

“It does have some air leaks,” Mason said. “We have had to run a line to a compressor to be able to maintain that, but they’re still leaking.”

However, he added, the lines can maintain full air capacity as long as the truck is running.

“The brakes are run off of the air, the air horns run off the air,” Mason said. “If we don’t have air, it’s going to basically not let us go anywhere, or could cause the brakes to fail.”

There are also problems with the truck’s generator that is used for electric tools and portable lights, the chief said.

“Sometimes the generator on the truck stops working on us, and there are parts that I don’t think are available for that,” Mason said.

The vehicle was made by American LaFrance, which went out of business in 2014 after 111 years of making fire apparatus.

Mason also described having to find solutions for leaking valves on the truck.

“We’ve had to Band Aid over the years just to be able to get them passing the standardizations for our annual checks that we do,” Mason said.

Firefighters are also uncertain whether their fuel and water levels are being correctly measured.

“The fuel tank is a steel tank that’s starting to rust, and the fuel gauge, we’re not sure sometimes if it’s correct,” Mason said. “The water gauge … having an issue.”

The most recent truck was purchased in 2015 for about $600,000. Officials attributed the price increase to higher standards and tariffs that make it more expensive to build new fire equipment.

“The longer we wait to go ahead with this, the more expensive the truck’s going to be,” Mason said.

Board members expect to review the impact on the village’s fire rating, which affects the amount of local insurance rates, and other cost factors, before determining whether to buy a new fire truck.

Mayor Bill Murphy said, “The tariffs were a big factor, and we don’t know how it’s going to play out over the next three or four years. That’s the scary part.”

© 2025 Daily Freeman, Kingston, N.Y.. Visit www.dailyfreeman.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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