Cassandra Day
The Middletown Press, Conn.
(TNS)

Oct. 21—MIDDLEFIELD — Middlefield Volunteer Fire Department members recently joined U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., to announce $79,142 in federal funding to support the purchase of PFAS substances-free turnout gear.

The fire company, located on Jackson Road, was established 90 years ago. It lacks a budget for this much-needed equipment, Chief Peter Tyc said, according to a recording of the presentation.

“We want to give our volunteer firefighters the best, because they give us the best,” First Selectman Robert Yamartino said.

Recent studies by the National Institute of Standards and Technology have shown that all three layers of firefighter turnout gear contain PFAS, a class of fluorinated chemicals known as “forever chemicals,” according to a press release.

PFAS are linked to cancer and other serious health effects.

“The new equipment reflects the unique challenges you face,” Blumenthal said. “It’s not your grandfather’s fire service anymore. … What’s in those homes when you go to put out fires: new chemicals and new threats to your physical safety.”

The funding is provided by the Assistance to Firefighter Grants program through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which aims to enhance the safety of the public and firefighters by providing direct financial assistance to eligible local fire departments, the statement said.

The grant program was reauthorized in July through the Fire Grants and Safety Act, and will provide $1.6 billion annually through fiscal year 2028 for AFG and other fire safety programs.

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Amy Calder
Morning Sentinel, Waterville, Maine
(TNS)

Oct. 20—CLINTON — The Clinton fire station on Church Street is old, cramped and inadequate for the needs of today’s firefighters and equipment, prompting the need for a new station.

That was the word Sunday from officials who answered questions Sunday at an open house held at the station at 19 Church St.

Town voters are set to vote Nov. 5 on a referendum asking if they want to borrow up to $1.9 million to help fund a new fire station to be built on a lot next to the Town Office at 27 Baker St.

The money would be added to about $2 million the town was awarded two years ago for a new fire station as part of congressional spending, officials said.

“We need more space, we need more people, we need everything,” Town Manager Daniel Swain said.

Swain was talking with fire Chief Travis Leary and others inside the fire station Sunday. Outside, firefighters spoke with residents on a sunny, 70-degree day, as children played football on the quiet street.

Leary said the original fire station in the center of the lot was built in the 1950s, and two bays were added in 2003 to the right of the building and three were built to the left. The bays house ambulances, a pickup truck and three fire trucks, he said. The old station was renovated at the time to retrofit the meeting room, office, kitchen and living quarters.

“Basically, two ambulances are double-parked, so there’s no space in between,” Leary said. “Fire engines, same thing. Trucks are getting bigger and longer due to EMS standards, and a replacement pumper tanker would be, like, 36, 37 feet, and the bay is only 40 feet long. Even now, if the trucks are in, they have to be turned sideways.”

The lot on which the station sits also is too small, with a thin strip of pavement on either side, and a small section behind the station, according to Leary.

“We can’t add on,” he said. “If we could put an addition on, we could gain more space that way, but we just don’t own the land.”

The town bought a house lot two or three years ago next to the Town Office, which is where a new fire station would be built — to the left, as one is facing the building.

The police station is at the Town Office.

“As town manager, I’d like to create a campus with the fire chief, town manager and police chief all in one place,” Swain said.

Clinton officials have been working on plans for a fire station for about four years, or about as long as the town has had a building committee. Originally, officials hoped to build a public safety building to house the Police and Fire departments, but when the town applied for a federal grant, only a fire station was approved, according to Leary.

Residents voted to approve money to design a new fire station, which was done by Dirigo Engineering of Fairfield. The town also appropriated more than $100,000 at the town meeting to be used toward a station. Officials put the project out to bid, and chose Blane Casey Contractors of Augusta as the contractor, if voters approve funding Nov. 5.

“This is a good community, and they’ve always supported the Fire Department very well,” Leary said. “I&#

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Karen Kucher
The San Diego Union-Tribune
(TNS)

A San Diego battalion chief who crashed a fire department pickup on an east Texas freeway last month, leaving himself and two colleagues injured, may have fallen asleep while driving, according to a Texas law enforcement crash report.

The three were part of a 48-member team that had been heading to assist in hurricane relief efforts in North Carolina.

The report, released by the Texas Department of Public Safety, said Aide Barbat was driving east on Interstate 20 shortly after 3:30 a.m. on Sept. 29 in the fast lane when he drifted into the center median, overcorrected and steered to the right and ran up an embankment. The Ford F-350 then rolled over numerous times before coming to rest facing northeast in the roadway at the bottom of the embankment, the report said.

A front passenger, identified as Capt. Greg Davies, got out of the truck and attempted to alert drivers that the disabled vehicle was in the roadway. Minutes later, however, the truck was hit by another vehicle with Barbat and Capt. Jesse Schultz, a rear-seat passenger, still inside, the report said.

“The rear passenger stated that the driver… may have fallen asleep,” the report said. “The right front passenger stated that (the driver) ran off of the road.”

According to the report, drug or alcohol use was not suspected. It was unclear if anyone in the second vehicle was injured.

The crash occurred near the border with Louisiana, and all three were transported to a hospital in Shreveport.

San Diego Fire-Rescue officials initially had reported that the crash occurred around 2:45 a.m. and that all three were transported by helicopter. The Texas crash report said one person was transported by Life Air Rescue and two were taken by ambulance.

The team had planned to do water rescue-type work and provide other assistance in Charlotte, N.C. After the crash, the remaining members — which include firefighters from San Diego and other local agencies, emergency-room doctors, a structural engineer and a mechanic — returned to San Diego after staying several days in Texas.

Davies, 51, returned Oct. 4 after being released from the hospital and is recuperating at home, said a fire department spokesperson. Schultz, 49, returned on Oct. 7 and has since been sent to an out-of-state facility to continue his recovery. Barbat, 45, returned Oct. 11 and was being treated at UCSD, the spokesperson said.

“The Davies, Schultz and Barbat families sincerely appreciate all the love, support and kind words of encouragement. They ask for continued privacy as they navigate what may be long roads to recovery,” the department said in a recent Facebook post.

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