Goshen Redevelopment Commission members have hired a firm to begin studying relocation options for a fire station, reports The Goshen News.

The results will be used to find a new location for the station that allows for better coverage of the city’s entire south side. 

According to the contract, work under Task 1 may include the following:

• Geocoding and analyzing historic dispatch data to calibrate the coverage model based on actual response times

• Analyzing the current coverage area and response times of existing station locations

• Determining predicted coverage areas and response times for the proposed site identified by the city

• Preparing a written report including a summary of the analysis, methodology and all associated maps

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According to a report from the Boston Globe, a large bell that was used to alert 19th-century Needham, Massachusetts, residents of fires will soon be a fixture in a Needham Fire Department (NFD) station currently under construction in Needham Heights.

On Monday, Needham’s Permanent Public Building Committee approved additional funding to install the 1,500-pound bell in the new NFD station that’s being erected at Highland Avenue and Webster Street.

The bell, which will cost $40,000 to install, will be displayed prominently in the tower of the new fire station, with a plaque explaining its history and significance.

The bell was made in 1887 by the Blake Bell Co. of Boston and and was originally housed inside the Parker School in Charles River Village, where it served as a school bell and fire alarm for that remote part of town. It remained there until the school closed around 1938. When the school was demolished a few years later, the bell was moved to the old Heights fire station at the corner of Highland Avenue and Mellen Street, where it stayed until the late 1940s.

As that station was being replaced, the bell was given to the Needham Historical Society (now called the Needham History Center & Museum) and placed on its front lawn on Glendoon Road. When the museum moved to its current location on Central Avenue in 2006, the bell went with them.

In 2018, with plans underway to build the new station, NFD Chief Dennis Condon asked if the bell could return to the fire department. The Needham History Center & Museum approved his request and agreed to lend the bell. But to install the bell in the new station properly, engineers needed to know how much it weighed. Last March, the town’s department of public works used lift equipment to bring the bell to the town’s recycling and transfer facility so it could be weighed.

The post MA Fire Station to Feature Historic Bell appeared first on Fire Apparatus.

According to a report from WCTI, in rural Greene County, North Carolina, the Maury Volunteer Fire & Rescue Department (MVFR) plans on building a substation along Highway 258. For area residents, this could mean quicker response times and a lower Insurance Services Office (ISO) rating, potentially saving lives and money.

MVFR Chief Neil Jarman says the substation will provide big savings to Maury residents in several ways, such as a dramatic drop in insurance costs.

The MVFR’s current station’s response time to Maury is about 10 minutes. Once the new station is operational, that time could be cut in half.

Jarman says the MVFR hopes construction on the new substation is completed by the end of 2021. He encourages anyone interested to consider becoming a MVFR volunteer member.

The post Rural NC Department Substation May Lower ISO Rating, Decrease Response Times appeared first on Fire Apparatus.

By Alan M. Petrillo

The San Jose (CA) Fire Department (SJFD) has taken delivery of three Pierce Manufacturing heavy rescue trucks: two set up as urban search and rescue (USAR) rigs and the third as a hazardous materials response truck.

All three rescues are built on Pierce’s Velocity^® chassis and cab, with TAK-4^® independent front suspension and TAK-4 T3^™ rear steer independent suspension, powered by Cummins 600-horsepower (hp) X15 diesel engines and Allison 4000 EVS automatic transmissions, with Command Zone™ electrical systems.

Joe Crivello, SJFD’s battalion chief and USAR program manager, says San Jose’s USAR Rescue A (USR-A), housed in Station 34, carries an Iowa Mold Tooling crane with a 25-foot boom that’s capable of a lift of up to 13,073 pounds at full extension and 22,840 pounds up close. “There are two H-style outriggers on the truck that allow the boom its maximum reach of 25 feet,” Crivello points out. “We can use the boom as an anchor point for low-angle rescue; from above when on an overpass; or to perform a high lift on an unstable motor vehicle or structure, trees, or heavy debris. This boom meets the needs of some challenging calls that we’ve had in the past.”

Paolo Brito, a SJFD firefighter and rescue specialist, says that San Jose’s USR-A functions pretty much as a traditional rescue truck but with the addition of the knuckle boom at the rear. “It’s set up for motor vehicle rescues, technical rope rescues, and water rescues; basic life support emergency medical services; and basic truck operations, and it carries a full complement of rescue tools, including a 13-foot long rigid hull inflatable boat,” Brito notes. He also points out that the second heavy rescue SLFD got from Pierce, designated USR-B, “Is set up to augment USR-A and function more as a traditional USAR vehicle. The equipment it carries is set up to handle technical rescues for motor vehicle accidents; emergency building shoring, breaching, and breaking any type of construction material; trench or confined space rescue; truck operations; ground ladders; ventilation; and advanced life support emergency medical services. He notes that, together, both USARs are California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services Type 1 heavy res