William Moore
Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Tupelo
(TNS)

Feb. 23—SALTILLO — The city of Saltillo is looking into possible sources to finance a $2 million standalone fire station.

Mayor Copey Grantham said Lee County officials donated the land on which the new fire station would be built — located on the north end of the Turner Industrial Park, adjacent to Krystal — to the city. Now, he hopes to get state and federal money to pay for 75% of the cost of building the proposed 10,000-square-foot station itself.

Last week, Grantham and Fire Chief Mark Nowell traveled to Jackson to meet with their local delegation, Sen. Chad McMahan and Rep. Jerry Turner. The city is asking the Mississippi legislature for $1 million in funding.

“I’m going to (Washington) D.C. in October to ask Sen. Roger Wicker for another $750,000 in federal funding,” Grantham said. “That would mean the city’s part would be $250,000. And we’ve got to make the commitment to build a new fire station.”

Since the summer of 2001, the Saltillo Fire Department has been housed in a 58,000-square-foot space that formerly housed a furniture factory, along with city administration and courts, as well as the water, police and public works departments. That building is 50 years old and no longer suits the needs of the fire department.

Saltillo’s rapid expansion in recent years has been a boon to the tax base but has left the city with some growing pains. Construction of bigger and taller buildings has also created a problem for those responsible for the city’s fire safety.

“The state fire ratings bureau is in town this week, and they say we have exceeded our capacity and we need a ladder truck,” Grantham said. “And a ladder truck will not fit in the current bays that only have 12-foot tall doors.”

Three large double-bays will occupy roughly half of the proposed 10,000-square-foot fire station. Each bay will be able to accommodate two engines parked nose to tail. The design has doors on both ends of the bay to allow the fire engines to be driven into the bay, without having to back up.

The administrative area will include offices for the chief, deputy chief and shift captain. The living area will have five bedrooms, laundry and an exercise room.

“We need a station that not only represents our great city but accommodates all the needs of our firemen,” Grantham said. “Our first responders work 24-hour shifts. Not only do they work at the fire department, they cook and sleep there also. This basically is their living quarters.”

City officials have been looking for several years at moving the fire department to a more centralized location with easy and quick access to the main traffic arteries through the city of 5,000.

Interest in the first location as a commercial property drove the land prices up. So Grantham approached the Lee County Board of Supervisors and they offered the city the parcel of land on the north end of the Turner Industrial Park, next to Krystal.

“There is a stop light right there, and you have easy access to (highways) 145, 45 and 363, so they can get anywhere is the city quickly,” Grantham said. “Plus, you’re right there in the industrial park and not far from Ashley, the largest mattress facility in the state with 19 acres under roof.”

The Saltillo Fire Department is a hybrid, with a handful of full-time employees augmented by up to 30 volunteer firefighters. In recent years, the number of full-time employees has grown to six, which allows at least one firefighter to be on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Fire Chief Mark Nowell 

The Big Spring Fire Department took delivery of its new pump engine fire truck recently, bigspringherald.com reported. 

BSFD firefighters gathered Thursday at Fire Station No. 2 at the corner of 18th and Main streets, and conducted a Push-In Ceremony to get the new emergency vehicle started out right, according to the report.

KME—Upper Frankford Fire Company, Newville, PA, pumper/tanker. SSX XMFD with 16-inch raised roof cab and chassis; Cummins X12 500-hp engine; Steertek front axle; Hale Qmax 1,750-gpm pump; 2,000-gallon polypropylene water tank; 20-gallon foam cell; FoamPro 1600 single-agent foam system. Dealer: Lo Barrick, Fire & Rescue Products, Harrisburg, PA.

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Ann Rejrat
LNP, Lancaster, Pa.
(TNS)

Feb. 25—The Dauphin County Commissioners have awarded over $8.3 million to 151 programs and projects, with money available through gaming dollars.

The funds are available through Hollywood Casino in Grantville’s community revenue-sharing program. The Pennsylvania Race Horse Development and Gaming Act mandated that some of the revenue from casinos would go to host counties when gambling was legalized in the state. The money is to go to projects of public interest in the host county according to the bill.

The funds will be distributed to a mixture of emergency services, affordable housing projects, food bank and shelter resources, youth and veterans programs and services, and other school and community-based improvement projects, the release said. The exact total of money that was rewarded is just over $8.375 million. The local share funds, by law, cannot be used for property taxes.

“The fruits of the local share program have been plentiful and continue to impact every corner of Dauphin County,” said Mike Pries, Dauphin County Commissioner Chair, in the release. “These transformative projects would otherwise have to be paid for with taxpayer dollars.”

Here is a complete list of projects awarded funding:

1. East Hanover Township ($517,000 annual road maintenance and repair; $50,000 fire company hose and nozzle project; $100,000 fire safety equipment; $18,000 temporary shelter supplies): $685,000

2. Derry Township ($123,500 Public Works Dept. F550 truck with plow and spreader; $47,000 Police Dept. interactive training simulator; $140,000 Hershey Volunteer Fire Company new fire engine; $9,500 Hershey History Center building enhancements and technology upgrades; $15,000 Hidden Still Inc. construction, facility tours and education programs; $50,000 Mary’s Training Center HydroWorx treadmill; $12,392 Vista School ADA improvements and AED replacements): $397,392

3. Middle Paxton Township ($163,000 Potato Valley Road improvement and Red Hill Road Bridge replacement project debt reduction; $98,000 Dauphin Borough construction of community building; $30,000 Dauphin Recreation Association pool repairs; $40,000 Dauphin Middle-Paxton Fire Co. outdoor sign): $331,000

4. Rush Township ($50,000 new building to store equipment; $101,247 Jefferson Township tractor-loader): $151,247

5. South Hanover Township ($200,000 municipal complex debt service; $100,000 new public works facility): $300,000

6. West Hanover Township ($300,000 Debt reduction of fire engine; $45,960 Tall Cedars of Lebanon pavilion and roof replacement): $345,960

Municipal and Municipal Services Awards

1. Berrysburg Municipal Authority (Debt service for Sewage Treatment Plant System project): $24,000

2. Conewago Township (DCIB loan debt reduction for Meadow Lane project): $82,000

3. Court Administration for Magisterial District Judges (Debt reduction on construction of new MDJ facilities): $165,000

4. Dauphin County General Authority (Golf course irrigation system debt payment): $115,000

5. Dauphin County Industrial Development Authority (Debt service on solar farm project): $246,000

6. Dauphin County Parks & Recreation Department (Design and construct 1-mile paved accessible trail loop at Detweiler Park): $140,000

7. Dauphin County Sheriff’s Office (Debt reduction of new portable and mobile police radios): $15,815

8. Derry Township Municipal Authority&nbs

Don Stacom
Hartford Courant
(TNS)

When Middletown got a new American LaFrance fire truck in 1931, the city was a different place: The Arrigoni Bridge didn’t exist, the 1899 firehouse was still fairly modern, and a local factory’s cutting-edge product was the “noiseless typewriter.”

So it’s understandable that 92 years later, old Truck 1’s paint is bit faded.

“That’s the original paint. It’s got the original motor, the original transmission and they still work — it’s amazing it’s in as good shape as it is,” said Lt. Ryan Scranton, a leader in the campaign to restore what’s probably the oldest Middletown fire truck still in existence.

It wasn’t until two years ago that Middletown firefighters heard the old Truck 1 was in private collector’s storage garage in Binghamton, New York, which turned out to be the next-to-last stop in an unusual journey.

Truck 1 was built in 1930 by the now-defunct American LaFrance, and delivered to Middletown a year later.

It was no ordinary pumper or tanker: Instead, it was a tiller truck, a predecessor to the modern aerial apparatus. Designed to get around tight city street corners, its cab connects to the ladder and trailer section with a hinge. So the driver steers from in the cab, but a second firefighter steers the trailer section from a seat at the far back.

Truck 1 spent about 25 years in service at the downtown firehouse, where the extendible 75-foot ladder on its trailer could reach up four- and five-story buildings along Main Street.

The city lent the truck to Connecticut Valley Hospital in the late 1950s, and a couple of years later it was fully decommissioned and sent to a private collector in Philadelphia. Long afterward, the Binghamton collector acquired it and then stored it for years.

“In the summer of 2021, we got a call from the gentleman in Binghamton, a retired fire captain from there. He’d seen markings for Middletown. All he wanted was to cover the back rent he owed,” Firefighter Owen Andrew said. “So a group of us formed the Middletown Tiller Association.”

Scranton and Andrew along with several other firefighters and a group of retirees chipped in to raise about $3,000. Two local businesses, Gallitto Construction and Yankee Heritage, lent a low-bed tractor trailer so they could haul the old truck back from Binghamton.

Since the overwhelming majority of fire trucks from that era became scrap metal long ago, the nonprofit association was grateful that private collectors had not only kept Truck 1 but cared for it, too.

“That truck has been stored inside its entire life. It was never more than a couple of days outside,” Andrew said.

Still, restoration is going to be a costly job. The truck runs, but needs new tires along with rear brakes and other mechanical improvements.

“We’ve had quotes on a full restoration — paint, gold leafing, everything — from $100,000 to $400,000,” Andrew said. “But right now our goal is just to get it mechanically sound, maybe $10,000 to $15,000.”

The association got 501(c) (3) status last year, so donations can be tax deductible. It recently set up a GoFundMe page that so far has raised $1,290, and will be seeking local corporate donations later this year.

The association has taken the truck to a few local events and parades, and