A woman was taken to the hospital Tuesday after she was injured when she slid down a firefighter pole while touring a St. Paul fire station.

She sustained a non-life threatening injury, St. Paul Fire Marshal Steve Zaccard said Wednesday.

The fire department is investigating what happened, including whether an employee allowed the woman to use the pole, because "we don't usually let people do that," Zaccard said of visitors trying the poles.

The woman was among a group of adults touring Station 1 at West Seventh Street and Randolph Avenue. Such tours are "a very common thing," Zaccard said. "We welcome people into our stations and we enjoy meeting them."

Zaccard said he can't discuss the woman's injury because of a patient privacy law.

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Fire Chief Steve Russell said the new 2016 Spartan pumper with a six-man cab was financed mostly with a FEMA grant of $334,000.

The remainder came from the department's general budget. It replaces a truck that was 27 years old. He said the new one should provide service to the department for the next 20-25 years.

The Spartan was built in North Dakota and purchased from Anchor-Richie of Taylorsville. Russell said the grant process took about 15 months from application to delivery.

The truck can feed hoses or do water shuttles for quick dumps, with the ability to haul 1,000 gallons of water and pump at the rate of 1,250 gallons per minute.

Level Cross has three large trucks including two engines, a rescue squad truck, a pickup truck and a Tahoe.

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Firefighters and school counselors are learning how to deal with youth that have lit or talked about lighting fires. Yakima firefighters hosted guest speaker Sedric Ketchum from the U.S. Fire Administration Thursday morning -- Ketchum showed the group how to properly interview youth following acts of arson.
- PUB DATE: 2/4/2016 1:59:40 PM - SOURCE: KVEW-TV ABC 42 Kennewick

Firefighters and school counselors are learning how to deal with youth that have lit or talked about lighting fires. Yakima firefighters hosted guest speaker Sedric Ketchum from the U.S. Fire Administration Thursday morning -- Ketchum showed the group how to properly interview youth following acts of arson.
- PUB DATE: 2/4/2016 1:59:40 PM - SOURCE: KVEW-TV ABC 42 Kennewick

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- PUB DATE: 2/4/2016 10:29:44 AM - SOURCE: KOMO-TV ABC 4 and Radio 1000