Richard Tribou
Orlando Sentinel
(TNS)

Hurricane Milton remained a “catastrophic” Category 5 hurricane overnight Wednesday, forecast to hit Florida’s Gulf Coast close to midnight still as a major Category 4 hurricane with “devastating” 130 mph winds and 15-foot surge, according to the National Hurricane Center.

“Damaging winds, life-threatening storm surge, and heavy rainfall will extend well outside the forecast cone,” forecasters said. “This is a very serious situation and residents in Florida should closely follow orders from their local emergency management officials.”

As of the NHC’s 5 a.m. advisory, the center of Milton was located about 300 miles southwest of Tampa moving northeast at 14 mph with maximum sustained winds of 160 mph keeping it a Category 5 hurricane.

The storm’s center is compact for now with hurricane-force winds extending out 30 miles, but tropical-storm force winds have been expanding since Tuesday now out to 145 miles from its center.

“The global models agree that vertical wind shear is expected begin to increase over Milton later today, and that should cause some weakening,” the NHC stated. “However, there is high confidence that Milton will remain a very dangerous hurricane when it reaches Florida, and maintain hurricane status as it moves across the state.”

The forecast track’s cone of uncertainty ranges from Port Charlotte to the south and Clearwater to the north, with a potential center moving near Sarasota south of Tampa Bay moving inland by 2 a.m. Thursday with 130 mph sustained winds and 160 mph gusts.

“Users are urged not to focus on the exact landfall point as the average error at 24 hours is about 40 miles,” the NHS stated.

It’s then forecast to shift to an east-northeast path across the state going across southern Polk, Osceola and Brevard counties exiting into the Atlantic still as a Category 1 hurricane near Melbourne with 80 mph sustained winds and 100 mph gusts.

“Milton’s wind field is expected to grow considerably in size while it moves across Florida,” forecasters said. “Additionally, a large region of tropical storm and hurricane-force winds could occur on the northwest/back side of the storm since Milton will be interacting with a frontal boundary and beginning extratropical transition.”

Conditions in South Florida have already begun to deteriorate as an area of heavy rain ahead of the hurricane is beginning to spread across the peninsula.

“Several tornadoes are likely today and tonight across parts of central and southern Florida,” forecasters said.

Millions were ordered to evacuate and the state’s highways have been clogged and residents faced stations without fuel. Mandatory evacuation orders for barrier islands, mobile homes and low-lying areas were issued across 11 counties with a combined population of 5.9 million people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The powerful hurricane surged Monday into a monster Category 5 storm with 180 mph winds in the Gulf of Mexico, then lost some steam overnight as it moved over the waters just north of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, falling to 145 mph winds earlier Tuesday. But then it climbed back hitting 165 mph winds in the even

The City of Vineland Fire Department, Mayor Anthony Fanucci, and members of the city council invite the public to attend the Official Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for the new Vineland Fire Department Headquarters and Station No. 6 at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 12, the city said in a Facebook post recently.

The station is located at 400 West Plum Street. The $20 million project was completed under budget and ahead of schedule. Guided tours of the new 38,000-square-foot, two-story building will be available following the ceremony.

Incorporating state-of-the-art technology and energy efficient construction, the Vineland Fire Department Headquarters will provide full operational capabilities for the city’s firefighters, as well as the fire department’s administrative offices, and basement storage. The main floor has a full kitchen, conference room, daytime administrative offices for the director, chiefs, and daytime officers, and a state-of-the-art training room. Also on the main floor are offices for the Fire Prevention Bureau.

The east end of the main building houses living quarters for full-time paid staff with eight drive-through engine bays for fire apparatus, and a vehicle maintenance area. A modern air slide replaces the old fireman’s pole from the second level.

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Charlotte Caldwell
The Lima News, Ohio
(TNS)

Oct. 7—LIMA — Retired Lima Fire Chief Andy Heffner and new Chief Jack McDermitt spoke to the Lima Rotary Club on Monday about recent changes at the fire department and what the department is trying to get moving forward, such as a new fire station.

McDermitt said planning for a new fire station is in the “infancy stages” with a study from the Ohio Fire Chiefs Association incoming to help decide where it should be located and how to start the project.

“The big reason behind that is our newest station is Central, and it was built in 1975,” McDermitt said. “We have three females working with us right now, and honestly, the locker room we have at Central, that’s about as much as that locker room can take. It was designed for one person.”

“With a new station, we want to remodel Central, completely overhaul it, so we have the facilities to move forward,” McDermitt said.

“They had three vehicles in that station,” Heffner added about Central Station when it was built. “They are now sitting at somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 vehicles in there and two boats, a rescue trailer, so it’s packed to the gills, so it’s definitely a need because the job has changed. It used to be putting out fires. That’s not the case anymore.”

The increase in the department’s calls for service also shows the need to expand. McDermitt said the department saw around 1,500 calls per year when he started, and now every year they have over 6,000 calls.

Another project in the works is getting equipment to help firefighters in confined spaces. McDermitt said the equipment would be available for every department in Allen County to use.

“Another thing chief (Heffner) started was trench rescue in a confined space. Our utility guys are in trenches, confined spaces every day. We have no equipment to help if something goes wrong,” McDermitt said.

McDermitt discussed a recent addition to the department that will make the job more efficient.

“This week we launched a new software that Chief Heffner helped spearhead. It’ll be all-encompassing — it will be for our reports; our scheduling that we do on Post-it notes and Excel spreadsheets right now; to our inventory,” McDermitt said.

One challenge the department is experiencing is a lot of retirements, which brings down the experience level. McDermitt said four personnel will retire in the first quarter of 2025.

“Our average years of service went from almost 20 years of service in the last two years down to about eight,” McDermitt said.

Another staffing challenge comes from getting people to stay at the department instead of switching departments for a pay increase. McDermitt said they offer training and specialized teams to try to keep personnel.

“The last three years we’re experiencing something that we’ve never experienced in the fire service. When me and Andy started, you started someplace, you finished your career there. Now everybody’s jumping around. We’re competing with the suburbs of Columbus, and we can’t. They’re paying six figures; we can’t do that,” McDermitt said.

McDermitt said they face a challenge with getting young people interested in the profession, and Heffner added some people have never experienced the conditions firefighters experience.

“Most of the young people today have grown up in 72 degrees. Winter, summer, spring, fall, it’s 72 degrees. When you’re a firefighter, it’s hot, it’s dirty, it’s dangerous, so you’re uncomfortable. A lot of people today have not been uncomfortable,&

MARION—Preston (CT) Fire Department pumper. Spartan Metro Star cab and chassis; Cummins L9 450-hp engine; Hale Qmax 1,500-gpm pump; UPF Poly 750-gallon water tank; Duo-Safety ground ladders. Dealer: Alan Harris, Northeastern Fire Associates, Cheshire, CT.

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