The Milwaukee (WI) Common Council voted Tuesday Nov. 25, 2025, to override the mayor’s veto of funding for city fire apparatus, wisn.com reported. The council’s decision restores the fire department’s budget for new vehicles to $10 million for 2026.

Mayor Cavalier Johnson had previously vetoed the council’s amendment, cutting the allocation to $6 million, the report said. The move to override was driven by concerns over the city’s aging fire apparatus.

Chief Aaron Lipski has stated that several of the city’s fire trucks are beyond their recommended 15-year frontline lifespan, according to the report.

The department has recently borrowed apparatus from nearby cities and last month, a wheel fell off the city’s last reserve ladder truck while it was downtown.

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Special Delivery Alan M. Petrillo

To help protect aircraft and miles of runways and taxiways, the 28-square-mile Dallas Fort Worth Airport Fire Department has placed six Oshkosh Striker Volterra™ aircraft rescue and firefighting (ARFF) trucks in service—four front-line rigs and two in reserve.

Daniel White, Dallas Fort Worth Airport’s fire chief, says he and the department were drawn to the vehicle when Oshkosh first introduced the idea of a Striker Volterra. “What caught our attention when Oshkosh brought the concept vehicle out in 2020 was the pump-and-roll capability with the power divider drivetrain,” White points out. “It allows a constant pressure level on the pump with no surging or disruption and a very smooth constant manifold pressure.”

In addition, White notes, “When in electric vehicle drive mode, the Striker Volterra ARFF truck uses only its onboard batteries to power the rig fully on electricity, which is very useful for reducing emissions and removing exhaust fumes when exiting and entering the fire station.”

When hard acceleration is needed from the truck, he adds, the rig automatically transitions if the acceleration drive mode is active and allows the batteries and diesel engine to work together to maximize performance and improve response time by developing up to 950 horsepower (hp). “The Striker Volterra is very fast, going from zero to 50 miles per hour (mph) in 21 seconds,” White says.

1 The Dallas Fort Worth Airport (TX) Fire Department has six Oshkosh Striker Volterra 6×6 ARFF trucks in its fleet. (Photos courtesy of Oshkosh Corp.)

2 The trucks are easch powered by two 700-VDC lithium-ion batteries, a Scania DC13 diesel engine, and an Oshkosh power divider.

3 The rigs have Waterous CRQB 2,000-gpm pumps, 3,170-gallon water tanks, 425-gallon foam tanks, Oshkosh ECO EFP foam systems, and 550-pound dry chemical powder systems.

Department

Dallas Fort Worth Airport (TX) Fire Department

Strength: 191 paid full-time firefighters; six stations.

Service area: The Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) Airport Fire Department is an all-hazards ISO-1 agency that provides aircraft rescue and firefighting (ARFF), emergency medical services (EMS), structural firefighting, rescue and technical rescue, confined space, and hazardous materials response to the airport’s 28 square miles.

Other apparatus: Six Oshkosh Striker Volterra ARFF 6×6 trucks, four front-line, two reserve; two Oshkosh Striker 6×6 ARFF trucks with 65-foot high-reach extendable turrets (HRETs); two Oshkosh Striker 4×4 rapid response vehicles with ultra-high-pressure pumps and hoselines; one Oshkosh 4×4 Striker ARFF with a 50-foot HRET for the DFW Fire Training Center; four Pierce pumpers, three front-line, one reserve; two Pierce 105-foot aerial ladders; two Pierce 105-foot aerial ladder platforms; one Pierce technical rescue/hazmat truck; one Pierce aerial ladder quint in reserve.

Travis Ownby, sales representative for Siddons-Martin Emergency Group, who sold the six Striker Volterra ARFF trucks to Dallas Fort Worth Airport, says the ARFF rigs are all identical 6×6 trucks with TAK-4® all-wheel independent suspensions and regenerative braking through electro-mech

Aaron Curtis
The Sun, Lowell, Mass.
(TNS)

DRACUT — Dracut’s newest fire truck is so much more than just shiny and red.

The department announced on Saturday that firefighters underwent intensive training last week to prepare for the deployment of Tower 1, a $1.56 million 2025 E-ONE ladder equipped with a 95-foot aerial ladder that can carry up to 2,000 pounds of personnel and equipment.

Instructors from Truck Tactics, a Connecticut-based company specializing in tower and ladder operations, led classroom and hands-on sessions, focusing on how to park the truck at a fire scene and how to position it effectively. The training also included ventilation, aerial operations, and offensive versus defensive strategies.

“Positioning a ladder truck is an art that takes continuous practice,” Dracut Fire Chief Michael Cunha said in a press release from the department. “All of our Tower 1 crews have now not only familiarized themselves with this new truck, they have also received intensive training in how to most effectively take advantage of its capabilities.”

Earlier this month, firefighters also trained with Greenwood Emergency Vehicles to learn the how to use the apparatus and its features.

Tower 1 was delivered to the department on Oct. 24, marking an upgrade from the aging 1999 E-ONE Ladder truck it replaces. The truck — expected to remain in service for approximately 25 years — carries eight ground ladders and is capable of pumping thousands of gallons of water per minute through a fixed waterway that extends upward along with the ladder’s platform.

Stationed at Dracut Fire Headquarters, Tower 1 will be equipped with extrication tools and will respond to all motor vehicle accidents with possible entrapment. The truck and its crew of three will also respond to all possible structure fires in town.

The department said Tower 1 was deployed for the first time on Saturday.

“This truck is going to significantly enhance firefighter safety and our ability to make rescues in emergency situations, and now our members are fully trained to begin putting it to use,” Cunha said in the release. “We are excited to deploy this vehicle and to continue keeping our promise to keep Dracut as safe as possible.”

Follow Aaron Curtis on X @aselahcurtis, or on Bluesky @aaronscurtis.bsky.social.

© 2025 The Sun, Lowell, Mass.. Visit www.lowellsun.com. Dist

Brian Hubert
Daily Freeman, Kingston, N.Y.
(TNS)

KINGSTON, N.Y. — A staff member in the City Engineer’s Office said he expects work to begin on the city’s New Central Fire Station at 18-30 East O. Reilly Street in March 2026 and to wrap up in May 2027.

The staffer appeared before the city Planning Board on Monday, Nov. 17 to share details about the $8.5 million project which is expected to take 14 months. The Planning Board is only serving in an advisory role for this project.

Board members only offered a few minor suggestions with Board Chair Wayne Platte Jr. suggesting that the large garage door-style doors on the new station’s engine bays have windows allowing the public to see the engines inside. He offered the doors at Ulster Hose Co. No. 5’s main station on Ulster Avenue in the town of Ulster as an example.

Board member Charles Polacco expressed excitement that efforts to create a new Central Fire Station were finally coming to fruition.

The Common Council cleared the way for the project by unanimously passing an $8.5 million bond measure during the Council’s November meeting.

The current Central Fire Station will be converted for the Kingston Fire Department’s ambulance service and to house administrative offices. Across the street, the city closed on the purchase of the 13,000-square-foot building for $612,000 from WMCHealth HealthAlliance in August. That building last housed records storage for HealthAlliance. It has also housed an ambulance company. Before that, it was owned by Central Hudson, which has an adjacent substation that will continue to be owned by the utility.

Polacco recalled visiting the building while it was owned by Central Hudson with his grandfather, who worked for the utility. “It had transformers and stuff,” he said.

“The current central fire station has served well over 110 years, but the larger equipment needs exceed available space, and it has structural deficiencies,” Schultheis told lawmakers in October. ”

The current station will still need HVAC, electrical work, along with roof work and other rehab, he added.

Plans shared with lawmakers show a new five-bay station facing East O’Reilly St. in a portion of the building that will be demolished and reconstructed to be taller to accommodate the fire trucks being pulled inside.

Kingston Fire Department Chief Chris Rea has said having five bays allows for growth, with each of the new bays accommodating up to a 75-foot-long ladder truck. Rea expects two of the bays to be utilized all the time, with the other three used on occasion.

The building will also house sleeping quarters for on-duty firefighters. The Deputy Chief on duty will have separate sleeping quarters within the structure. The building will also house showers, bathrooms, locker rooms, a kitchen big enough to have a long table, along with a “ready room” for firefighters. The station will also have a dispatch area and flex space that can be used for training and gatherings, and also as a central city emergency response location.

The building will also have storage for other firefighting equipment, including a garage space that will house the department’s fireboat.

Rea told the Planning Board that trucks will no longer have to block the sidewalk. He added that the aerial ladder truck would be the only piece of equipment that would have to go out on the street.

The city also secured six parking spaces closest to the corner of Hasbrouck Avenue and East O’Reilly Street, with the balance shared with HealthAlliance.

Rea expects with additional spaces that only the chief’s car will have to park out on the street once the new station opens.

The en