A growing population in Colorado Springs (CO) is pushing the need for four new fire stations and more firefighters, according to an article published in The Gazette.

According to the newspaper, the Colorado Springs Fire Department needs the stations over the next seven years and is expecting to break ground on a new facility in the coming months. It will be located next to the departments headquarters east of downtown.

The fire department will need new fees on developments to help cover the costs, the newspaper reported, adding that the city will need to increase the staff from about 525 employees to about 728 by 2026.

In 2007, the department responded to 45,102 emergency calls for help and this year, it’s on track to handle about 70,000 calls, the newspaper reported.

Stations are expected to be built in the northwest section of the city and, later, two additional stations will be built, including one east of the airport to serve new commercial development, the newspaper reported.

As part of the preparation for the year-long celebration of its 150th anniversary, the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York (FASNY) has broken ground on a $2 million renovation project for its headquarters on Washington Avenue in Albany, reports spectrumlocalnews.com.

A new training room is part of the renovation, and the building will also get a new facade resembling a classic fire station, including a representation of a fire truck garage bay.

A 100-year-old American LaFrance fire truck, the first new truck for Waverly, IA, is back home after firefighters worked to return the piece of history to the community.

According to a report  broadcast by News7 KWWL, the truck was brought back to Waverly after three years of negotiations. After the truck was retired from Waverly, it was sold to Redfield, IA, and later sold to an Indianola family where it stayed for 60 years, the television station reported.

Waverly officers and firefighters brought the apparatus back home recently where it joined two other important trucks from the community’s history in the Waverly Fire Museum. The department hopes to restore the apparatus and use it for parades, weddings and funerals, as well as make it available for public display, the NBC affiliate reported.  

Atlanta city councilors are seeking to spend up to $7 million for five new tractor-drawn tiller aerial trucks after a city fire truck had to be towed from the scene of a house fire earlier this month.

According to television station 11Alive, a total of six trucks broke down over the course of one weekend in mid-June. Most of the apparatus were back in service in a couple of days, however breakdowns have been an issue for months.

The city has gone for two years without buying any new apparatus and most of Atlanta’s 20 aerials are over 20 years old, according to the television station.

It appears that a growing number of city councilors support the purchase of the new apparatus and the objective is to have as many trucks on the road as soon as possible and the older ones repaired so there are spares available when needed, the 11Alive reported.