The city of Escondido (CA) is investing more than $4 million to upgrade and modernize the fire department’s apparatus and equipment, reports sandiegouniontribune.com.

City council recently approved a series of contracts for the purchase of three fire engines, one brush rig, three ambulances, and 15 cardiac monitoring devices for fire apparatus and ambulances, the report says.

Escondido will pay $2.4 million for the three Sutphen engines. The city is allocating $1.7 million in surplus funds from last year’s budget as well as $950,000 from public facilities fees to pay for the new fire engines, the city’s first since 2013, the report says.

Officials note that the purchases are a good start, but additional investments still need to be made to bring the department’s fleet up to date; two of the department’s Type-1 engines are 22 years old, and two more engines are 18 years old, according to the report.

The new brush rig will replace one of the city’s three existing brush rigs, which is 29 years old. Its $400,000 purchase price will be covered by surplus budget funds, the report says.

Surplus budget funds will also be used for the majority of the $786,000 for three new Medix ambulances. Several of the city’s current ambulances are older than the typical life span of 5 to 7 years. The five front-line units are in service 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, and are heavily used, officials say.

Also approved was spending $306,000 for six cardiac monitors, additional supplies, up-front maintenance, and data costs. The funds will be combined with a $345,000 FEMA grant, which will cover nine other cardiac monitors.

On the heels of a $500,000 allocation from the recently adopted budget, Carteret County (NC) officials are hoping to build a new Down East fire station in Sea Level with help from a BRIC grant, reports carolinacoastonline.com.

The estimated cost of the new facility is $3.5 million, and the county has already been approved by state officials to move forward with the application process, the report says.

Officials say the $500,000 is guaranteed even if the station project doesn’t get selected for the BRIC program. Station plans are still in the early stages, but officials say they’ve created a general floor plan.

This summer, the Carteret County Board of Commissioners gave about five acres of land to use for a new facility, FA reported at the time.

Earlier: Town to Donate 4.9 Acres of Land to Down East (NC) Fire Department for New Station

Beloit (WI) officials are investigating how a 43-year-old woman died during an incident at Leeson Park at 4:03 p.m. Saturday, December 4.

The City of Beloit Fire Department was dispatched to report of an unresponsive person in a vehicle in the park. The fire engine involved was on the roadway with emergency lights illuminated when the vehicle fled the scene and crashed into the fire engine.

Firefighters assigned to the engine reported the female passenger was slumped over in the vehicle prior to the crash. The female passenger was transported to a local emergency room where she was pronounced deceased.

A cause of death will need to come from the Rock County Medical Examiner’s Office.

The driver of the vehicle Marvin E. Flint, 56, of Rockford, was arrested for operating while intoxicated.

No City of Beloit personnel were injured in this crash.

A stray bullet went into the Jackson (MS) Fire Department’s Station 19 last week following an exchange of gunfire, reports wapt.com.

Firefighters say they heard at least 20 gunshots outside the facility on Ridgewood Road Wednesday evening before a bullet shattered the front entrance’s glass, the report says. A car could be heard screeching away after the blasts.

Officials say the bullet was later found in a couch. No injuries were reported.

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