The primary problem with Engine 1 is a leaking pump, which the Selectboard expects to repair for between $3,500 and $4,000.

Leyden Selectboard Chairman Jeffrey Neipp said Galvis already has the pump removed and disassembled, having received the truck at his shop in mid-December. Neipp expects the truck will be back in service by the end of January, depending on the availability of parts.

“We need to get it fixed, that’s all there is to it,” said Leyden Fire Chief and Leyden Firefighters Association President Clifford Spatcher. With Engine 1 out of service, Leyden firefighters would need to respond to a fire with a tanker instead.

As for the recently purchased engine, Neipp said the Selectboard currently has no plans to put it in service, unless the association’s board of directors can present the Selectboard with a substantial argument for its use. Spatcher said the association — a recognized nonprofit that raises money to support the Leyden Volunteer Fire Department — will discuss its plans for the engine during its next meeting on Feb. 7, and return to the Selectboard with a response in late February or early March.

Progress was suspended two years ago, and city and county officials are at a standstill, each side insisting it's waiting on the other. In addition, some city officials said they're worried they'd end up subsidizing the city next door.

But Broward fire chiefs, some city mayors and top county officials say it's time to get past obstacles and put in place the system that voters overwhelmingly approved in 2002.

"The sooner we get a competent professional to you, the better your chance of survival," he said. "Saving lives is what it's all about. Giving people a chance to live is what matters."

The closest-unit response system would be blind to the 31 municipal boundaries, focused instead on getting help to 911 callers in the fastest way possible. An ambulance in Davie could rescue an accident victim in Plantation. A fire truck in Oakland Park could rush to a blaze in Wilton Manors.

Neighboring cities would cross borders for serious medical or fire calls, like a heart attack, or a car accident, or a fire, but not for police work, like a burglary.

Live wires fell on a fire truck while firefighters battled a blaze at a house on Long Island, police said. Two firefighters were hurt. 

The firefighters were working to put out flames at a house on Arnold Avenue in West Babylon, the Suffolk County Police Department said. That's when the live wires fell on their truck.

One of the firefighters went to the hospital for an injured knee. The second was hurt but not hospitalized. 

 Falling ceiling tiles, a heating system that doesn’t heat, cracked floors — rats.

Fire officials are pleading with the town to release money needed to fix problems at the aging Byram Fire Station. In addition to the above maladies, the station — in operation since 1952 without renovation — is lacking many advancements in firefighting technology that have been made over the years.

Money to design improvements has been allocated. But town finance officials say they are not ready to spend it quite yet.

Some $200,000 for design was approved as part of the 2016-17 municipal budget, but it needs the Board of Estimate and Taxation’s sign-off before it can be used.

At issue is a new study included in the proposed 2017-18 municipal budget that would examine the townwide fire service as a whole, looking at staffing, the various stations across town and other aspects of fire coverage. Members of the BET Budget Committee question whether it makes sense to spend money on Byram before the study is done.