A new Engine No. 2 for the Central Station of the Eufaula Fire and Rescue rolled into town shortly before lunch on Wednesday, Dec. 16, right before inclement weather set in for the remainder of the day.

The new truck, the second new fire truck for the city of Eufaula this year, was delivered to the Central Station to an audience that included Eufaula Fire Chief Greg Holmes, Mayor Jack Tibbs, city council members Jason Bennett, Bob Powers, Lucious Cobb, Johnny Knight and Barbara Flurry, along with many of the personnel on duty at the station.

Fire Chief Holmes showed off the new truck, that was custom built for the Eufaula Fire Department by Sunbelt Fire, pointing out some of the features on the new fire engine that had not been offered when the older trucks owned by the city was purchased. He pointed out features included on this truck that was not on the first new truck that arrived in September. The new truck includes hard suction hoses, which will allow firefighters to suction water from lakes, ponds, or pools to help fight fires when no other water source is available.

"We went through our list of equipment that is required by ISO to have on the truck, to receive credit for the truck, and checked off what we already had here and ordered the stuff we had to have. Several new nozzles had to be ordered to replace older ones that were to the point of being worn out, and a deck gun for on top of the truck. The bigger ticket items were included in the bid specs, but we had a lot of stuff already that we will be putting on the truck.

"The fire hose for it we already have, "Chief Holmes commented. "Every year we add it into our budget for the next year, to have hose on standby. Fortunately for the last three years, we have been buying enough hose, a little bit at a time, to have for a new truck. Fire hose, the big yellow hose, is $585 for one section and when you are required to have 1000 feet of hose on a truck that can be an expensive purchase at one time. It's better to buy a little at a time and store it so when you need it, you have it."

Features included on the New E-One Fire Apparatus, that is a 2015 E-One Typhoon, are a 1250 GPM pump and is capable of carrying 1000 gallons of water and a 30 gallon foam tank. An on board generator is mounted in one of the compartments, and has a safety feature included that will not allow it to run unless it is pulled out from the storage compartment on a specially designed drawer.

Holmes elaborated that this truck has much larger compartment spaces and is equipment with four pre-connect attack connections, one in the rear of the fire truck, two speed lays at the pump panel, and a jump line in the front bumper. It also has one 2 1/2 inch hand line pre-connect. The hose bed of the new Engine No. 2 will be equipped with 1000 ft. of 5 inch hose and as well as 3 inch hose. The cost of the new fire truck was $379,900.

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About 108 homes in the Three Forks community are damaged thanks to last week's storms. The Three Forks Volunteer Fire Department confirms about 48 of them are total losses. The tornado also flattened the fire station.

"It's just a slab now," said Chief Joey Jackson.

In the yellow lines, where fire trucks once parked, is now just mud and mess.

"This is their lifeline. We're the ones that go out to help them when they need something, and then we come here and we don't have anything," Jackson said.

Jackson said his station had five equipment trucks of varying kinds.

All that's left Monday is one that does not work, on loan from the Forestry Department. It is from Army surplus. The department has not sent it back yet.

Jackson said one of his trucks will be in the shop for three to six months just for body repair.

The station was not the only loss. Four of the 25 firefighters lost their homes Monday. Donations are pouring in, and many in the community are planning to rebuild. That includes the fire station. Chief Jackson said he is already getting estimates.

He is not sure insurance will cover all his costs.

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Cleveland Fire Department spokesman Larry Gray confirms that at about 3 p.m. Monday, a shot was fired into Ladder 36 fire station on E. 131st Street in the Union/ Harvard neighborhood.

Gray says the bullet was not discovered until later Monday night. As a fire crew was preparing to go on a run, they found a crack in the windshield of one of the trucks and a bullet lying in front of the truck.

Cleveland police say officers responded to the firehouse at 3720 East 131st Street for a bullet into the structure/fire truck.

Further investigation revealed that police cruisers in the area had responded nearby at about the same time to 13400 Bartlett Avenue. No suspects located.

No one was hurt and police and the fire department continue to investigate.

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A 6-year-old in California who befriended a group of firefighters got a special ride to her final chemotherapy treatment earlier this month.

The Moraga-Orinda Fire District picked up Finley Brown, who was diagnosed with kidney cancer in June, and her family in a fire truck to drive them to Oakland's UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital on Dec. 21 -- a thrill of a lifetime for Finely and her little brother, Cooper, 4.

Finley met the firefighters this summer at a festival where the family lives in Moraga, just east of the Bay Area.

"We've always taught our kids that whenever they see a fireman or a police officer or a soldier, it's nice to approach them and thank them for keeping us safe," her mother A.J. Brown said.

So when Finley, who was with a babysitter and her little brother that day, saw a group of firefighters, she marched right up to them.

"Finley caught our eye initially because she didn't have any hair, and then because she started talking to us — this little girl had a ton of confidence," firefighter Lucas Lambert said. "She wasn't shy at all. She introduced both her little brother and babysitter to us and had no problems asking questions. And then she went on to tell us her story and started showing off her scars and telling us what she had been through in the past month or so."

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Eleven people were displaced after a fire heavily damaged a fourplex Tuesday morning in Vancouver’s Edgewood Park neighborhood. Firefighters arrived at the complex, 3408 E. Evergreen Blvd., at about 10:30 a.m. and reported heavy fire and smoke coming from the doors and windows of the two middle units, Vancouver Fire Department spokesman Mark Johnston.
- PUB DATE: 12/29/2015 12:01:55 PM - SOURCE: Vancouver Columbian