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Posted: Sep 27, 2018

Alachua County Fire Department To Implement Drone Technology

A donation from a local business brought this $24,000 piece of equipment to the fire department.  

“If we send this drone up, within two minutes I can tell you where the fire is, how big it is, which direction it’s going and probably help guide in a unit to where they need to go,” said Scott Fielding, drone specialist.

The other four drones in Alachua County’s fleet can fly up to a mile. This new drone can go twice as far, even in the dark with its infrared vision. Apart from fire hot spots, it can even detect people lost in the woods at night.

“Normally, we’re out combing the woods, shining flashlights,” Fielding said. “We can go up in the air and see a heat signature and say, ‘There they are.'”

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Posted: Sep 27, 2018

State auditor: Smithville Fire Protection District (MO) Mismanaged Funds

It was a retired Kansas City Fire Department captain who sensed something was up with the Smithville Fire Protection District.

But when the state asked for documents - they received pushback - so they actually had to get a subpoena.  

When Missouri state auditor Nicole Galloway presented the results on Thursday night, the new Smithville Fire Protection District board was in the front row. Among them was Charlie Waters, recently elected to the board. Some audit findings came down to mismanagement. A property tax paid for a $1.8 million fire station, she says, but the board didn’t figure in the cost of staffing and operating it, so it sits empty.

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Posted: Sep 27, 2018

Turners Falls Fire District Voters Approve Ladder Fire Apparatus

The Wednesday night vote will allow the Prudential Committee to enter a lease-to-buy agreement and included a down payment of $160,000 for the first year payment. The total cost will be $950,000, including interest, according to Turners Falls Fire Chief John Zellmann.  

The new truck is a 2017 model, which has a 107-foot ladder that allows for the ladder to extend 10 degrees lower than the truck. It has a six-person, enclosed cab with air bags. It has a 2,000-gallon-per-minute pump, and can contain 500 gallons of water.

The purchase will only affect the taxes of those who own property in the Turners Falls Fire District. The truck will cause at most a 14 cent increase per $1,000 of valuation, Zellmann said.

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Posted: Sep 27, 2018

Dayton (MN) Fire Gets New Fire Apparatus

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Posted: Sep 27, 2018

Dashcam Video Shows Metal Cap from Jacksonville Fire Apparatus Hit Car

"I was quite surprised when I saw something fall off the fire truck on the left hand side," said Renee McKinney while showing the I-TEAM video recorded on her dashcam.  

The Southside resident says in her opinion, the video evidence is undeniable, and she wonders why the city, at first, refused to pay for the damage. McKinney says she was driving eastbound on JTB towards the St. Johns Town Center behind a JFRD fire truck in the slow lane when a metal object flew off the truck in front of her and slammed into her bumper. 

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