The Maryville Fire Department will begin phasing in new gear aimed at being more adaptable to different types of calls, maryvilleforum.com reported.

On Monday, the Maryville City Council approved the purchase of new turnout gear for the fire department, including new multipurpose gear that is lighter and will be used on non-fire calls, the report said.

A Maryville fire official told the council that the multipurpose gear could have been used in more than about 90 percent of calls last year.

The council approved the proposal, a $15,948 contract with Heiman Fire Equipment, for the purchase of four sets each of structural turnout gear, which is replaced on a regular maintenance cycle, and multipurpose gear, which will be gradually phased in for use, according to the report.

Radio grant
Earlier this month, the fire department was awarded a $20,000 matching grant by the Missouri Department of Public Safety, the maximum allowable award, to purchase five portable radios, one mobile radio, a charger, speaker microphones and a vehicle repeater, the report said. As part of the grant, the city will kick in a matching $20,000.

The grants come from the state’s allocation of federal American Rescue Plan dollars, and the city’s matching funds will come from its own store of unallocated Rescue Plan dollars, according to the report.

The Baton Rouge Fire Department showed off five new trucks during a ceremony Thursday.

The trucks will go to the following fire stations:

• Fire Station 1 at 3024 Florida Boulevard
• Fire Station 2 at 3333 Choctaw Drive
• Fire Station 3 at 3142 Evangeline Street
• Fire Station 12 at 555 Government Street
• Fire Station 13 at 835 Sharp Road

The city of Miami amended an agreement with the developer of a 64-story tower in Brickell to expedite the project and a complementary fire station was included in the deal, miamitodaynews.com reported.

Fire Station 4 is to be temporarily relocated into a 5,500-square-foot space within Southside Park, the report said.

A background memo states the fire department won’t occupy the temporary station until it’s connected to water and sewers, expected by 2024, the report said. The station is projected to use 550 gallons of water a day, according to the report.

The deal requires the developer to fund the $8 million cost of a new, state-of-the-art fire station, $2.2 million for new fire trucks and other public benefits, the report said.

Editor’s Opinion Ed Ballam

A new writer makes his debut with us in this issue.

Ed Boring is a retired deputy chief from the Hilton Head (SC) Fire Department, among other things. In this issue, he writes about a legend in the fire service, the late Alan “Bruno” Brunacini, the former Phoenix (AZ) fire chief.

Bruno was a seminal figure in the customer service philosophy of the fire industry. He believed that taxpayers and those who call for fire services are customers, and firefighters and first responders have the obligation to care for those clients as one might treat a customer who walks into a storefront or any other business. Firefighters have the obligation to be professional and polite and give the clients exactly what they need as efficiently as possible. It’s a great mantra for any business and, as it turns out, it is a good fit for the fire service too.

I had the pleasure of meeting Bruno a few times at fire trade shows. He was always in his signature Hawaiian shirt and always with a group of people who were hanging on his every word as Jesus to his disciples. He was that kind of guy. For more than 50 years, he shared his skills as a firefighter and his knowledge as a fire officer and was generous with his time and mentoring.

Bruno died in October 2016 but left a legacy that far exceeds his earthly years. Boring’s revisiting of Bruno’s lecture on the metaphor of delivering pizza in a cement truck caused me to think about all the other great fire service leaders past and present. And, obviously, I couldn’t help but think about my late boss, Bobby Halton. I miss him. Both men were legends, and the fire service isn’t the same without them.

Nevertheless, there are still a lot of living legends in the fire service, and most all of them are at the annual Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC) next month in Indianapolis. They share their words and knowledge year after year to standing-room-only crowds. I won’t mention any legends by name for fear of forgetting some, but you know who they are and it’s evident when you see firefighters spilling into hallways outside packed FDIC classrooms straining to hear the words of the true leaders in the fire service.

• FDIC: Event Info and Registration
• FDIC International 2023 to Feature the Fire Rescue Station of the Future

FDIC is where the best instructors impart their knowledge