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Posted: Oct 20, 2016

Antique Fire Equipment on Display at Bethel (CT) Museum

Tucked behind the Bethel Volunteer Fire Department's building sits a little-known museum filled with equipment, some dating to the 1800s, from departments across the country. Newspaper clippings and photographs from fires in the Bethel area and other parts of the country line the three-room museum.
Old-fashioned hooks and ladders from 80 to 90 years ago hang on the walls. Hose nozzles from different eras sit in cases. About 25 helmets from Europe and the United States are beside more than 200 toy fire trucks Walter Dugdale, a member of the fire department for about 55 years, has accumulated since childhood.

Dugdale collected many of the artifacts at flea markets, auctions and antique shops. Fire departments have been a lifelong interest for him.

"I've chased fire trucks since I was that high," he said, bringing his hand down close to his knees. "I've just been fascinated by them."

Most departments in the area do not have a museum like this, but Bethel started one in the late 1970s as one of their members, the late Sherman Slaving, was working on a department history book. The museum closed for restoration in the 1980s and reopened more than a year ago.

One of the highlights is the 1936 Mack Pumper used at the firehouse where the American Legion now sits.

The town spent about $70,000 to have it restored in Pennsylvania in the 1980s, but the job was not completed properly, so a Connecticut restorer fixed it for another $70,000 about two years ago. Shortly afterward, it won a "Best Mack in Show" competition in New York.

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Posted: Oct 20, 2016

Task Force Tips/AMKUS Media Day

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Posted: Oct 20, 2016

Seattle firefighters respond after truck tips while lifting dumpster with concrete on Capitol Hill

PHOTO: A truck tipped over on Capitol Hill Thursday morning while loading a dumpster filled with concrete and rebar. The yellow truck was on its side on Boylston Avenue, between Prospect and Aloha streets, as firefighters were sent to the scene just before 9 a.m. Eric Kaufman, who lives about 15 feet from where the truck flipped, said the truck had successfully loaded the dumpster but then it “swung off to the side and pulled the truck over.
- PUB DATE: 10/20/2016 10:47:16 AM - SOURCE: Seattle Times
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Posted: Oct 20, 2016

App Helps Save Seattle Man In Cardiac Arrest

If your heart is going to stop, right outside a hospital is not a bad place for it. And if 41 people within a 330-yard radius have a cellphone app alerting them to your distress, so much the better. That’s what happened in Seattle last week when Stephen DeMont collapsed at a bus stop in front of University of Washington Medical Center.
- PUB DATE: 10/20/2016 10:41:49 AM - SOURCE: CBS Seattle KSTW-TV & KPTK-AM
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Posted: Oct 20, 2016

Thalacker Presents DMACC Fire Truck to Public

Tim Thalacker knows there are many components needed for quality firefighter training he's receiving at DMACC's Fire Science Academy is the best he can receive. He also knows some equipment is tough to obtain.

Thalacker spoke at a recent press conference where DMACC officials unveiled a fire truck, announcing the college had obtained the truck to use at the fire academy, with grant money, along with an ambulance.

“Not many firefighter training centers can claim to have their very own fire trucks,” said Thalacker, who is a second-year student in DMACC’s Fire Science Technology program and a volunteer firefighter with the Baxter Fire Department. “The fire truck will help the fire science program tremendously. In the fire industry, we can learn a lot in the classroom, but almost everything we learn has to be applied hands-on, at some point.” 

Thalacker said DMACC classes and hands-on training, historically, have not generally taken place at the same site.

“All our hands-on things we did was out at Urbandale Fire Department, including live burns in their burn tower, extrication practice, testing, etc.,” Thalacker said. “We always used one of their fire engines and we are grateful for that equipment. But by having this truck, we can literally go through a lecture (on a DMACC campus) and walk 20 feet and have our own fire truck we can practice while it’s still fresh in our minds.”

The purchase was made possible by a $113,000 grant from Prairie Meadows. The grant covered the truck, equipment and some minor repairs.

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