Menu

WFC News

Posted: Aug 18, 2016

Romeoville's Shiny New Fire Station Will Improve Efficiency: Officials

A new, modern firehouse is officially open in Romeoville but officials say it will maintain its small-town charm. They unveiled the facility at 18 Montrose Drive on Saturday, Aug. 13. Its site is the same as the previous Fire Station 1, which will help ensure that it remains a "neighborhood firehouse," fire officials said.

"We were pleased that we were able to rebuild the station in its current location with cash on hand and without any new debt," Mayor John Noak said, in a community update.

This station also serves as the headquarters for Fire Department Administration. Emergency personnel will begin moving into the new facility during the coming weeks.




Read more
Posted: Aug 18, 2016

Construction to Start on Fillmore Fire Station in Fall

By Kathleen Wilson of the Ventura County Star A Torrance company has been awarded the contract to build an $8 million fire station in Fillmore, replacing one dating from the early 1950s. Public works officials OK'd the award this week from a field of 15 bidders.

A Torrance company has been awarded the contract to build an $8 million fire station in Fillmore, replacing one dating from the early 1950s.

Public works officials OK'd the award this week from a field of 15 bidders. The station is one of five that the Ventura County Fire Department plans to replace. The others are in the Upper Ojai, Newbury Park, Thousand Oaks and Lake Sherwood.

Construction on the Fillmore station is due to start in October and be done in early 2018, officials said.

Tobo Construction Inc. submitted the winning bid of $8.13 million, almost $200,000 under the estimate of county engineering specialists.

The station will be built on a vacant 2.7-acre site near the intersection of Highway 126 and C Street. County Fire Chief Mark Lorenzen said the current station at 613 Old Telegraph Road is outdated, extremely small and the site is too cramped to allow expansion.

Fillmore has a volunteer fire department, but the county agency covers the unincorporated area and assists on fires within the city.

At 15,000 square feet, the new station will be more than three times the size of the current station. It will provide improved access to the highway, modern utility systems and adequate room for fire engines, Lorenzen said.

Read more
Posted: Aug 18, 2016

Police: Projectile Shatters Ambulance Window

A bullet, a pellet, a rock - something shattered a window of an ambulance in North Bellport Tuesday, police and ambulance officials said. Two EMTs from the Mastic Beach Ambulance Company were returning from dropping off a patient at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center in East Patchogue when the passenger side window shattered, said Charles Voelger, chief of the volunteer company.

“The window exploded,” he said. “We don’t know if someone threw a rock at it or if someone shot at it.”

Broken glass hit the EMT sitting next to the window and she suffered minor cuts on her arm, he said. “She was turned toward the driver at the time, thank God,” the chief said.

The window was broken at about 3 p.m. on eastbound Sunrise Highway, just east of Station Road, Voelger said.

The incident came on the same day the ambulance company learned its $20,000 grant request to buy bullet-resistant vests had been rejected by FEMA, Voelger said. The money would have purchased about 50 vests for the company, which has six full-time, paid EMTs and a core of 50 volunteers, he said.

Voelger said his members have been concerned about safety due in large part to tense relations between police and some communities across the nation.

He said he’s trying to pursue funding with state officials.

Read more
Posted: Aug 18, 2016

Kansasville Fire Buys First New Ambulance

KANSASVILLE - With patient transport times to area hospitals taking anywhere from 20 to 25 minutes, having a reliable ambulance is crucial for the Kansasville Fire and Rescue Department. And for the first time since it began providing ambulance service in 2007, the department is in the training process so it can utilize its first new ambulance.

The new ambulance was purchased after three years of looking for a vehicle to replace its 1997 ambulance, which previously served another department. Due to recent mechanical failures with that vehicle, the department decided to acquire the new rig.

The new ambulance was purchased in late July.

“It’s a bigger vehicle, to begin with, than what we had before,” Kansasville Fire Chief Scott Remer said. “It was time to get our new ambulance.”

The 1997 ambulance was sold with 100,000 miles on it. The new rig, which cost $204,000 and had been a dealer demonstration model, has 5,000 miles on it.

“This is a demo vehicle, so we were able to save significant dollars,” Remer said.

Remer said training is underway with hopes of having the vehicle responding to calls by the end of August.

Read more
Posted: Aug 18, 2016

Pasadena Fire Engines Join Brush Strike Team to Fight Out of Control, Massive Blue Cut Fire

The Pasadena Fire Department has dispatched two engines and a number of firefighters as part of brush strike team to fight the massive and out-of-control Blue Cut Fire near San Bernardino, now in its second day.

Pasadena Engines 33 and 36 joined Burbank Engine 13 and Glendale Engines 25 and 26, along with one Battalion Chief from the Burbank Fire Department and one from the Glendale Fire Department, to form Brush Strike Team 1203-A.

The five-engine Strike Team rolled out at 3:47 p.m. Tuesday afternoon and is now assigned to structure defense.

Battalion Chief Michael Wakoski of the San Bernardino County Fire Department, incident commander of the Blue Cut fire, told the Los Angeles Times that the fire broke out late Tuesday morning in rugged and steep terrain, making containment efforts almost impossible.

The LA Times said unrelenting heat, gusting winds and tinder-dry chaparral provided bountiful ammunition for the fast-moving fire that has forced more than 80,000 to evacuate.

Read more
RSS
First71237124712571267128713071317132Last

Theme picker

Search News Articles