Residents were invited to take a look at Citrus County Fire Rescue’s new fire engine and aerial ladder truck during a “push-in” ceremony Monday, ChronicleOnline.com reported.

The new aerial ladder truck is a 2022 Pierce Ascendant 107’ heavy-duty aerial ladder and the specifications for its development were established by Citrus County Fire Rescue’s Tech Committee members, the report said.

The aerial ladder will serve as the front-line apparatus at Station 23, replacing a 2009 Ferrara Igniter and a 2009 Sutphen Pumper, according to the report.

The new engine is a 2022 Pierce Saber, whose specifications were also established by Citrus County Fire Rescue’s Tech Committee members and also purchased through Ten-8 Fire & Safety LLC. It was manufactured by Pierce Manufacturing in Bradenton, Florida and will replace a 2004 Pierce Contender, the report said.

The Ventura County Fire Department is one of the first two agencies to use a Pump-Pod — a system that can capture and recirculate roughly 4 million gallons of water each year—to address severe drought, toacorn.com reported.

California’s ongoing drought means that an endless amount of water flowing straight into storm drains isn’t ideal, the report said.

VCFD contacted Walt Dorn, a retired first responder and now president of Pump-Pod USA, to develop equipment that would allow firefighters to train without worrying about wasting water, according to the report.

The Ventura County Fire Department, along with the Orange County Fire Authority, began using the Pump-Pod in 2017.

Intended exclusively for training exercises, the pod can recirculate up to 2,000 gallons of water per minute, the report said. Firefighters use their hoses to shoot water from their engines into the trailer’s tank, and that water pumps through another set of hoses back into the engine. It makes a continuous loop and only uses the 2,000 gallons of water they started with, according to the report.

The Hoover City Council Monday night voted unanimously in favor of spending $1.9 million to buy an office building on Lorna Road to relocate fire department administrative offices, HooverSun.com reported.

The Lorna Professional Building at 3021 Lorna Road is currently owned by Ratliff Partners and located near an entrance to the Monte D’Oro neighborhood and across from Taco Bell, the report said.

A Hoover city official said the three-story building has about 24,000 square feet, with a significant portion of that empty. The city needs to find a new location for the fire department’s administrative offices because the current offices at the Hoover Public Safety Center are needed for expansion of the National Computer Forensics Institute, run by the U.S. Secret Service, according to the report.

The Ann Arbor Fire Department is hoping to gain approval to buy its own ambulance, WEMU.org reported.

At last night’s meeting, the Ann Arbor City Council was expected to vote to reallocate $500,000 American Rescue Plan money: $300,000 toward purchasing an ambulance for the fire department; $200,000 for unspecified downtown improvements, the report said.

In the past, when Huron Valley Ambulance didn’t have any available rigs, the Ann Arbor would have to send out a fire truck to handle a medical emergency, the report said. So, for the last six months, the AAFD has been operating an ambulance provided by Huron Valley Ambulance, according to the report.

The last six months has proved to the department the value of having its own rig, a fire official said.