A $122 million bond measure was recently passed, allowing Tualatin Valley (OR) Fire & Rescue (TVF&R) to purchase new apparatus and make station upgrades throughout its district.

The measure won’t raise taxes; the current bond rate will stay put.

• Replace response vehicles as they reach the end of their useable life, including fire engines, trucks, and medical vehicles used throughout the District;
• Fund fire station projects including seismic upgrades, security features, expansions, or living quarter modifications at 10 of 29 stations;
• Rebuild the King City fire station at its existing location;
• Relocate the Aloha fire station to a more central location for local and regional response;
• Fund safety upgrades for TVF&R’s training center where responders practice fire suppression, emergency medical care, technical rescue, hazardous material response, and other emergency skills;
• Purchase land for future fire stations in areas where growth is expected to occur.

“We are so grateful for this show of support from our community,” says Fire Chief Deric Weiss. “Though we structured this proposal to ensure that it was cost neutral, we appreciate that our residents often have to make tough decisions about how their money is spent. Our community has consistently told us that their top priority for TVF&R is fast and effective emergency response. We will continue to use their investments wisely to fulfill this commitment.”

More info about the measure can be found here:

By Alan M. Petrillo

Monahans (TX) Fire Rescue, the largest fire department in the northeast part of Ward County, TX, covers a mostly rural area heavily populated by oil fields and oil and natural gas rigs. The department needed to replace a bread-truck type rescue with a more modern apparatus, and one that had off-road four-wheel-drive capabilities to handle the rough terrain the department responds in.

“The oil and gas industry is very big locally,” says Randy Crabtree, Monahans Fire Rescue’s chief. “The oil fields are really busy with a lot of traffic in and out, and we are seeing big, heavy truck wrecks on almost a daily basis,” Crabtree observes. “We needed to be able to respond well to those incidents and our old bread truck rescue was not up to doing the job properly. So we looked at rescue trucks from several manufacturers, and ultimately chose SVI Trucks because of the quality of the vehicles it builds, and the service from our local dealer.”

Crabtree notes that Monahans Fire Rescue covers 40 square miles with 41 volunteer firefighters from a single station. It’s fleet, besides the new medium rescue, includes two Type 1 engines, two Type 6 wildland engines, and four ex-military 6×6 brush trucks.

Smeal—Detroit (MI) Fire Department 100-foot rear-mount aerial (UR-100’). Spartan Gladiator cab and chassis; Cummins X12 500-hp engine; Darley 1 ½ AG 150-gpm auxiliary pump; UPF Poly 300-gallon water tank. Dealer: Ricke Rosselle, R&R Fire Truck Repair Inc., Northville, MI.

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Council recently approved the purchase of a $1.2 million apparatus for the Keowee (SC) Fire Department, reports wgog.com.

The truck will replace a 30-year-old piece of equipment, and a general obligation bond was issue to cover the purchase, according to the report.

Officials say the truck will be assembled at Ocala (FL) with a completion time of between 16 and 18 months, the report says.