The soil below the city-owned spot selected for a new fire station in north Augusta isn’t up to the task of bearing the weight of the new station and the heavy fire trucks that would be kept there.

Rather than abandon the lot and plans to build a station there within a year, city staff recommends spending about $500,000 to install structural steel pilings extending at least 60 feet down to provide a solid base for the fire station and the concrete floors that will bear the weight of water-filled firetrucks and ambulances.

City Manager William Bridgeo said there were no signs the soil wasn't up to the task of supporting the weight of a fire station until the city had test borings done as part of the engineering for the site which revealed "soupy" clay soil.

"They did test pits where they went 10 feet down, and it's soup," Bridgeo said of the discovery of soil conditions at the site off Leighton Road across the street from its intersection with Anthony Avenue. "Then they went 20 feet down, still soup. Then they brought in the (drilling equipment) and went down 30, 40, 50, then 60 feet before they finally hit bedrock."

If the building weren't a fire station where heavy firetrucks will be kept, the pilings might not be needed, as the soil may be stable enough to support lighter-duty structures such as a home or one- or two-story office buildings, said Bridgeo and Ralph St. Pierre, finance director and assistant city manager. But engineers expressed concern the concrete floor of the new station could crack if built on the unstable soil with heavy firetrucks constantly rolling in and out of the station and across the floors.

"When you put a massive firetruck with a tankful of water rolling back and forth, back and forth, there's a good chance you're going to end up with cracks," Bridgeo said. "And this building is being built for 75 to 100 years of use, so it's prudent to get it right from the get-go."

The projected budget of $3.6 million for the new station doesn't include the recently discovered need for about $500,000 worth of pilings to stabilize the site.

For more information, view www.centralmaine.com

The City of Sacramento has increased fire and ambulance services in Natomas and South Sacramento. 

The Sacramento Fire Department has added a ladder truck in Natomas and an ambulance on Franklin Boulevard.

Sac Fire's Chris Harvey says previously, the closest ladder truck to the area was three-and-a-half miles.

"The importance of adding a truck out there is we now have several buildings that are over three, four, five stories tall. So, in event of major fire, you need a truck company in order to have that ladder to get up on the roof."

Harvey says some of the city's ambulances are responding to too many calls.

"The national standard for call volume for an ambulance should be right around 3,000-to-3,500 calls per -year, per-ambulance and we have four ambulances in the city of Sacramento that ran over 6,000 calls last year."

Four other ambulances responded to 5,000 calls last year.

The ambulance and two firefighters per shift will staff Station 57 at a cost of about half-a-million dollars annually.

For more information, view www.capradio.com

Public works crews were on the scene in Poway Monday, after a sinkhole opened up underneath a fire truck in the afternoon.

The truck was at a red light at Pomerado Road and Twin Peaks Road when three firefighters on board felt the vehicle shift. They soon realized the right front tire had popped through the asphalt and the truck was sunk up to the frame. Emergency crews were called to the scene and were able to pull the truck out.

No injuries were reported.

"We are probably very fortunate that it was a fire truck that popped through the hole and not a private citizen in their car," said Fire Chief Jon Canavan. 

Crews were expected to return to the sinkhole, which was was five feet wide and eight feet deep, in a few days to make permanent repairs. They believe a pipe separated at a connecting pipe.

Geologists report that El Nino rains are agitating the ground under the streets and warn that more sinkholes will continue to form across the county.

For more information, view cbs8.com

Rock Rapids, IA—Maintainer Custom Bodies was awarded a contract with the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) for many variations of their popular MCB Rescue and Emergency Vehicles. Fire and Rescue departments now have access to MCB’s competitive pricing through HGACBuy.com. HGACBuy is free to join for municipalities, cities and other government agencies throughout the United States. Members enjoy a more efficient and cost effective method of satisfying bid process requirements.

“H-GAC members now have access to MCB walk-around and walk-in rescue trucks,” explains MCB Sales Manager David Wunderlin, “as well as our Quick Attack, Combination Rescue, and Mobile Command Vehicles. Standard packages are available, but departments can also choose various options and accessories to meet their needs.”

For more information, visit www.mcbfire.com or www.hgacbuy.com.

Bayco Products, Inc has introduced three new Nightstick® branded intrinsically safe Class I, Division 1 angle lights. The new models, the XPP-5570R, the XPR-5572R, and the XPR-5572RM are now available.

Each new Nightstick angle light model is cULus and MSHA certified intrinsically safe permissible, water-rated as IP-X7 waterproof, and meets the requirements of NFPA-1971-8.6 (2013). Made from durable, glass-filled nylon polymer, these individually serialized angle lights feature a heavy-duty stainless-steel pocket clip that eliminates slippage when attached to a firefighter’s jacket or SCBA and include a top-mounted visible low-battery indicator that illuminates in low battery situations.

All three Nightstick angle light feature three user-selectable flashlight settings of 200, 100, and 60 Lumens plus a strobe feature with a 267-meter beam distance. The ultra-tight beam is perfect for cutting though smoke and lighting up objects at great distances while the floodlight setting (separate independent switch) has three user-selectable brightness settings of 200, 100 and a “Survival Mode” of 20 lumens that provides just enough light in an emergency situation with a run-time of 3.5 days. Turn both the flashlight and the floodlight on simultaneously in Dual-Light mode allows users to see objects at a distance or through the smoke as well as see the ground in front of them as they walk or work, increasing safety and convenience. Nightstick’s Dual-Light technology is a first to the angle light product line and is one of eight available modes to choose from.

Additional specifics and contents of each angle light in the series are as follows:

XPP-5570R Intrinsically Safe Dual-LightTM Angle Light – 6 AA

• Package includes light, AA battery carrier and 6 AA batteries
• Upgradeable to rechargeable by adding optional lithium-ion battery pack and charger

XPR-5572R Intrinsically Safe Dual-LightTM Angle Light - Rechargeable

• Package includes light, rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack, wall or vehicle mounted charger, AA battery carrier (AA batteries not included), and AC & DC power supplies

XPR-5572RM Intrinsically Safe Dual-LightTM Angle Light w/Magnetic Base - Rechargeable

• Multi-Angle Magnetic Base uses rare-earth magnet with rubber protective coating on gimbal head to place light exactly where needed without interference
• Package includes light, multi-angle magnetic base, rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack, wall or vehicle mounted charger, AA battery carrier (AA batteries not included), and AC and DC power supplies

For more information, visit www.mynightstick.com.