The Carterville Fire Department helped the Balloonatics, a junior high science club, retrieve a weather balloon from a tall oak tree 90 minutes after they launched it in Carbondale, Illinois, as part of an eclipse experiment..

Petersburg (VA) firefighters were able to obtain funds for new firefighting equipment, and NBC12 had some images of the new gear.

Earlier this year, the department had issues with an idled fire truck, and last year had equipment repossessed because of financial difficulties.

A report from the Cape Gazette looked at how cuts at the state level are affecting Rehoboth Beach (DE) firefighters, who were planning on replacing the department's aging apparatus fleet, among other issues.

All of the company’s four fire apparatus are over 20 years old, according to Warren Jones, spokesman for the company. What money the company does have is tied up in capital investments to keep emergency equipment on the road, Jones said.

The cuts to grant-in-aid-funding come as the company is facing financial difficulty related to the new Station 2, which was fast-tracked in the wake of Hurricane Sandy and had a pricetag of $4M.