Ground will soon be broken on a new West End fire station after the city council voted unanimously Monday night to spend an extra $3.3 million on the project, NewburyportNews.com reported.

A $5.9 million bond order was unanimously approved by the council in 2021 for designing and constructing an approximately 6,800-square-foot building to replace the aging, 2,258-square-foot John F. Cutter Fire Station on Storey Avenue, the report said.

The station has been in use since the early 1970s but its roof has deteriorated and the building no longer meets fire codes, according to the report.

The proposed single-story, net-zero energy consumption fire station would be three times larger than the current building, the report said. It has been designed by Winter Street Architects of Salem.

Now that the council has approved the extra money, the original $5.9 million bond order will need to be rescinded in favor of the new $9.2 million bond order, the report said.

• Newburyport (MA) Fire Station Projected to Cost $3M More Than Expected

Traci Hastings
The Chronicle, Willimantic, Conn.
(TNS)

Jan. 31—The Town of Andover will conduct a special town meeting to discuss proposed expenditures on Feb. 7.

The first item on the agenda concerns the purchase of a new plow truck to replace a 1997 Ford. Town officials propose securing a five-year loan to pay for the truck, which is anticipated to be in use for the 2023-24 winter season.

The second order of business is to approve a grant through the state’s Small Town Economic Assistance Program. The town would receive $275,000, but would have to contribute $75,000 from town funds in order to obtain the grant. The grant monies would be used to continue removing hazardous materials from the old fire station, including asbestos, lead, and mold, and then demolish the structure. The funding would also provide new parking for senior citizen transportation services.

Townspeople will also act on funds from a second grant, this one through the state Department of Transportation, for an amount up to $800,000. The monies would be used to reconstruct portions of Hendee Road, Long Hill Road, and Skinner Hill Road. The town would have to contribute up to $35,000 for engineering and surveying work for the project from town funds.

The final decision to be made at the town meeting concerns a third grant, to be used for a Recreational Trails Study, to determine how to connect the municipal buildings on School Road with access to the rail trail and a multi-use pathway. The study is estimated at $53,000, with local funds covering an estimated twenty percent of that cost.

The town meeting will take place in the Andover Elementary School gymnasium, located at 35 School Road, at 7 p.m.

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New report provides insight into Perimeter Solutions’ sustainability strategy and ESG performance

Clayton, MO 31 January 2023 – Perimeter Solutions (NYSE: PRM), a leading global manufacturer of high-quality firefighting products and lubricant additives, today announced that it has issued its inaugural Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Standard Factsheet. The newly announced report provides insight into Perimeter Solutions’ multi-faceted approach to enhance, advance and regularly communicate its sustainability strategy and environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. It is available to view online.

“Perimeter Solutions is an innovative and evolving organization. In order to remain successful, we realize the importance of embedding strong sustainability priorities within our business operations,” says Edward Goldberg, CEO of Perimeter Solutions. “Over the past two years, our senior management team has worked to enhance our ESG strategy to align with the broader transformation of our company. Publishing this Factsheet demonstrates our commitment to transparency and accountability in our environmental, social and governance performance.”

Highlighted in the report are the three key tenets of Perimeter Solutions’ ESG strategy, which guide the company’s sustainability efforts:

• Environmental: Perimeter Solutions’ focus on environmental stewardship is integral to the work it does every day. Wildfire control products developed by Perimeter Solutions save tens of thousands of hectares of forest every year, helping these forests to continue to sequester carbon and reduce the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. Perimeter Solutions fire safety products also require dramatically less water to be effective, reducing the amount of water customers use while protecting a valuable natural resource. Internally, Perimeter Solutions has taken steps to increase recycling, made capital investments to reduce the amount of energy used in its manufacturing process, and increased the use of e-records to reduce the Company’s carbon footprint.
• Social Impact: Perimeter Solutions is committed to providing equal employment opportunities. All recruiting, payment, performance, and promotion decisions are based on merit, without discrimination on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, age, family status, ethnic origin, nationality, disability, or religious belief. Women represent approximately 19% of Perimeter Solutions’ total workforce. Members with diverse backgrounds comprise 33% of the Company’s Board. At the community level, Perimeter Solutions devoted 500,000 hours of dedicated service to forest fire remediation. The Company’s focused on contributing to the creation of a better world through its strategic nonprofit partnerships, volunteerism, and philanthropy.
• Corporate Governance: Perimeter Solutions emphasizes a culture of accountability and conducts its business in a manner that is fair, ethical, and responsible to earn the trust of its stakeholders. Perimeter Solutions has corporate governance policies and structures in place to support its c

Augusta (GA) leaders learned more about two fire trucks that recently wrecked, plus learned a little bit about the future of first response, wrdw.com reported.

Augusta Fire Chief Antonio Burden delivered the information during a committee meeting of the Augusta Commission Tuesday.

The wrecked trucks may not be usable due to damage from the wrecks, and leaders don’t have an estimate yet on how much repairs or loss of the trucks would cost, the report said. Since the trucks are self-insured, that means the department will have to foot the bill, the report said.

Burden says officials are still investigating whether the wrecks are due to human error or equipment failure, according to the report. The wrecks occurred on Jan. 16 and 21. Both drivers were tested for substances, the report said.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, Burden gave a presentation on so-called quick-response vehicles and advocated for them over ladder trucks. He said the vehicles save 25% on gas compared to ladder trucks and cost only 10% of what ladder trucks cost, according to the report.

He said the use of quick-response vehicles is a nationwide trend and that the vehicles would be a good solution and relief for fire trucks, the report said.