Islands Fire Station has opened a fire station and county officials have conceptually approved another fire station, reports Coastal Courier.

With the decrease of volunteer firefighter departments over the years, the county has struggled to properly service the area.

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According to a report from The Newport Daily News, the Tiverton (RI) Fire Department (TFD) is now seeking upwards of $900,000 to purchase its own ladder truck after years of relying on neighboring towns that have one. The TFD has not had its own ladder truck since the late 1980s, when the one it owned was retired from service. Over the ensuing years, many attempts have been made to get another one, but it never garnered enough support.

However, this year may be different.

TFD Chief Bruce Reimels said one of his crew fell from a roof fighting a chimney fire and spent six months on sick leave recovering from surgeries and a broken leg.

TFD Captain Josh Ferreira said that the TFD’s engines feature ground ladders with a maximum height of 24 feet, which may reach the gutters of a house but do not go above them to the chimney, if it is needed.

Reimels and Ferreira proposed a budget for a quint to the town council during a Saturday morning budget workshop, a model of fire apparatus that combines a fire engine that carries up to 750 gallons of water with a ladder on its top that can reach heights of 100 feet and not require additional personnel to operate it.

Councilman Jay P. Edwards said it’s time the TFD had an engine with a ladder on it that can’t didn’t have top purchased at Home Depot and stretched up against a fire building.

There is a need for a new engine, said Reimels, because the three engines the town now has at its three fire stations are models from years 2002, 2011, and 2013. The oldest has 185,000 miles on it that translates to an industry standard of 407,000 engine hours, said Reimels. When one of them is down for repairs, a tanker truck that has a hose and pump on it is used as the backup engine.

Reimels, who started as a volunteer with the TFD in 1988, shortly before the town’s previous ladder truck was retired, said a quint would allow access to 95 percent of Tiverton’s buildings.

A quint is more expensive than a pumper, but less expensive than a ladder truck. It would cost approximately $900,000, about a third more than a pumper, which ranges in price from $575,000 to $630,000.

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According to a report from WCHS, Hurricane (WV) Fire and Rescue (HFR) is getting a new station just a short distance away from their current home.

HFR hopes to break ground on its new site this spring, which has been eight months in the making, said HFR Chief Deron Wilkes.

Wilkes is preparing for the big move, which will be near Hurricane Middle School on Midland Trail. The new station will now be approximately 19,000 square feet, much larger than the nearly 8,000-square-foot building it occupies today. Wilkes said the extra space will allow them to bring in bigger and better fire apparatus and ambulances.

He continued by saying that the bays will be much larger, as will the training facility, which will include a training tower, allowing the department to grow as it goes. The station HFR currently occupies was built in 1975.

Wilkes said since the land is fairly flat and manageable, and he believes construction could begin as soon as this spring.

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According to a report from CBS4, the Denver (CO) Police Department (DPD) is examining the working ability of what’s called an Opticom system, which changes stoplights on the approach of an emergency vehicle. One person was killed and two others injured when a fire vehicle collided with a Honda Civic in the middle of a busy intersection on Saturday, January 23.

The Opticom can receive a signal from an approaching emergency vehicle and, on receipt, send out a signal to a receiver on a stoplight to turn it green. It can also turn the light red for crossing traffic.

On the date of the accident, a Denver Fire Rescue (DFR) truck was headed northwest on Speer to a call. DFR Captain Greg Pixley said the Honda was going south on Broadway. The lights were supposed to change about 1,000 to 3,000 feet before it reaches the intersection.

Britney Garcia, an eyewitness and driver at the intersection, said the stoplight appeared to change after that, saying it was green when she heard the fire trucks. However, when the fire truck arrived at the middle of the intersection, the light turned red.

The DFR One vehicle then “T-boned” the sedan, killing an adult female driver and critically injuring two passengers. Pixley said computer data and any video that turns up should determine if the Opticom system for changing the stoplights was working properly.

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