Katie Moore, Glenn Rice – The Kansas City Star

A Kansas City firefighter who pleaded guilty to three counts of involuntary manslaughter reached a plea agreement with prosecutors, allowing him to be sentenced to three years of probation.

Dominic Biscari, 22, was charged Tuesday in a 2021 crash that claimed the lives of three Kansas Citians.

According to the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office, Biscari was placed on probation for three years. He is prohibited from carrying a firearm and must complete 40 hours of community service.

Judge Janette Rodecap approved the plea agreement during a court hearing Tuesday.

Katie Moore, Glenn Rice – The Kansas City Star
A Kansas City firefighter who pleaded guilty to three counts of involuntary manslaughter reached a plea agreement with prosecutors, allowing him to be sentenced to three years of probation.

Dominic Biscari, 22, was charged Tuesday in a 2021 crash that claimed the lives of three Kansas Citians.

According to the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office, Biscari was placed on probation for three years. He is prohibited from carrying a firearm and must complete 40 hours of community service.

Judge Janette Rodecap approved the plea agreement during a court hearing Tuesday.

“Though this plea will not restore their lives or heal their grief, it demonstrates a level of accountability for the actions of the firefighter who carried a public duty,” Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said. “We also hope this motivates further review of the best and the safest practices for operating public vehicles. Our community requires more care.”

Several lawsuits were filed in the aftermath of the crash and last month, Kansas City agreed to pay more than $1.3 million to the family members of the victims.

©2023 The Kansas City Star. Visit kansascity.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

In an effort to improve the long-term safety of the township firefighters, the Perrysburg Township Trustees approved a new equipment decontamination unit, sent-trib.com reported.

At the Feb. 15 meeting, the trustees approved the purchase of Rescue Intellitech Solo Rescue SCBA DECON Washer package for $31,000, the report said. It can be used to wash the self-contained breathing apparatus, boots, gloves and helmets.

Fire Chief Tom Brice compared it to a heavy duty dishwasher with specialized equipment holders, the report said.

Brice pointed out the urgency of the purchase, which had been planned and discussed for years, but with inflation the price will be increasing to $32,000 after Feb. 27.

Recent cancer statistics show a greater rate for the disease with firefighters than with the general public, which can be directly traced to contaminants from the emergency situations they deal with as a part of their job, according to the report.

The Reno Fire Department has a history dating back to 1888 when the first professional fire department was established. Some of the vehicles used by the department, dating back to the turn of the century, are now facing a threat, thisisreno.com reported. 

The Reno Fire Antique and Classic Apparatus Committee has at least seven classic firefighting vehicles, some of which date back to the early 1900s. Since the closure of the Reno Fire Museum, the members of the committee said the equipment has been shuffled from one warehouse to another, the report said. 

The rent for the warehouse where the vehicles are held is being raised by a multiple of at least three, the report said, and the cost is too much for the city, which still owns a majority of these machines and helps cover the cost of the lease. 

Along with the vehicles, they have a large collection of items, including the original bell that was used in the firehouse in 1888, the report said. Six vehicles are crammed in a warehouse. The largest is over 65 feet long and gathering dust because there is no place for it and the others to be displayed. 

If they don’t find a new place to store them, they might need to sell some of them off, according to the report. That risks never having them all be in the same place again. 

Jen Zettel-Vandenhouten
The Pine Journal, Cloquet, Minn.
(TNS)

Feb. 20—THE TOPIC — The Cloquet Area Fire District has asked the Minnesota Legislature for $10 million in bonds to put toward the construction of a new fire station.

BACKGROUND: Officials in the CAFD have talked about building a new fire station for the past six or seven years, said Chief Jesse Buhs. Legislators included a similar request from the CAFD in last year’s bonding bill, but a bonding bill was never passed.

The district’s headquarters (508 Cloquet Ave.) is aging and located on a site that restricts what the district can do with the building, Buhs said. Furthermore, infrastructure in the building is old and expensive to repair.

“It’s a need in my mind because of the age of our facility, because of the limitations it creates, of the significant maintenance and infrastructure issues that we’re having — everything from plumbing failures on a consistent basis to all of our heating and air conditioning components failing one piece at a time,” Buhs said. “We had taken a stance that essentially we were going to build a new facility, so we had put off a lot of major overhaul or consideration for a complete remodel and infrastructure repair in that building, but at some point we either have to do that or we have to build a new facility.”

The CAFD owns 13 acres next to Sappi Fine Paper, which is where officials would look to build a new station if the bonding request is approved.

Despite the need for a new station, Buhs said officials don’t want the burden to fall solely on local taxpayers.

“The understanding that the taxpayers are taxed pretty heavily already between all the city, county, state, federal taxes that they pay, and we don’t believe it’s reasonable at this time to look at local taxpayer dollars to fund a fire station project,” Buhs told the Cloquet Pine Journal.

Buhs said he wanted to make it clear that the district would not build a new station unless it receives bonds from the state.

“Until the funding component comes into place, there is not a plan to build a new facility at this time,” Buhs said.

If the CAFD’s bonding request is approved, the money would cover up to half the cost of a new facility. Since officials don’t want taxpayers to foot the bill, Buhs said one of his primary goals is finding new revenue streams to cover the remainder of the costs, including grants from federal, state and local agencies.

The $10 million figure also doesn’t mean the organization would build a $20 million facility.

“The $10 million ask is just a starting point and as we work our way through the bonding process,” he said. “As long as we stay included in their consideration, then we start to dive into the actual costs. … We just wanted to make sure we didn’t sell the taxpayers in our area short.

“If, for example, we would have asked for $5 million, and the total project cost was $11 or $12 million, we’re a million or two less than what we could have received from the state,” Buhs said.

WHAT’S NEXT: State Sen. Jason Rarick, R-Pine City, and Rep. Jeff Dotseth, R-Kettle River, have introduced legislation to grant the CAFD’s bonding request. The measures have been referred to the Capital Investment Committee, according to online records.

In the meantime, officials will have to wait and see how the bonding process plays out, Buhs said.

The Deep Dive is a monthly feature produced by Cloquet Pine Journal staff. Have an idea for a topic you want us to dive into? Email

news@pinejournal.com.

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(c)2023 The Pine Journal (Cloquet, Min