The Harbor Beach Area Fire Department was recently awarded a grant through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Community Facilities Direct Loan & Grant Program, Huron County View reported.

The grants were awarded by the USDA – a total of $572,050 to support multiple rural communities across Michigan, the report said.

Among the grantees was Harbor Beach Area Fire Department, which will receive $31,750 to buy water rescue equipment, the report said.

The majority of the money will go toward a new rescue boat, a fire official said. It will also provide funds for training, according to the report.

The fire department will be replacing its current 14-foot water rescue boat with a new 22-foot boat, the report said.

The Klamath River Renewal Corporation (KRRC) announced last week that it delivered two Peterbilt water tenders to the Siskiyou County Fire Chiefs Association to strengthen local fire prevention and response capabilities, HeraldandNews.com reported.

The trucks are just the first pieces of equipment KRRC will provide to increase the capacity of local fire departments, the report said. The water tenders were built and purchased in Siskiyou County, adding an economic boost to a local business.

One is a 2023 Dodge Ram 5500 diesel flatbed truck and the other is on order from regional suppliers, according to the report.

In addition to the newly delivered trucks, the agreement with the Fire Chief’s Association calls for KRRC to provide four fire pumps, eight 3,000 gallon aluminum frame tanks, twenty fire hoses with 50’ lengths, a 15-inch drum chipper, a dump trailer, four helicopter dip tanks, radio equipment, four 24’ flatbed trailers to transport tanks, and more, the report said.

The Rock Hall Volunteer Fire Company has received a federal grant that will go toward buying a 36-foot aluminum fire and safety rescue boat, StarDem.com reported.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a $112,500 Rural Development investment grant to the RHVFC, a new release said.

The estimated cost of the boat is $408,000, the report said.

The fire company has what a fire official described as a “standard boat” — one that can respond to a vessel taking on water, for example — but the fire official said no fire company in the immediate area has a boat with legitimate firefighting capabilities to the level that Rock Hall is trying to do, the report said.

The decades-long search for a suitable location to build a fire station south of the Bourne Bridge took a step forward Tuesday night when the Select Board unanimously gave the go-ahead to a city official to negotiate to buy land on Route 28 in Monument Beach, CapeCodTimes.com reported.

The South Side Fire Station Building Committee recommends an 11-acre tract at 316 and 320 MacArthur Boulevard bisected by the so-called paper-road Motor Way, the report said. The site was earlier offered to the town for $2.8 million, according to the report.

Any planned land purchase would face May Town Meeting scrutiny, and taxpayers have argued over the years about the highly-traveled road not being the best spot to build a firehouse or police station, the report said.

But committee members have arrived at both the point where the 2023 town meeting warrant is set to open and the realization there is “no good place” for a southside firehouse in terms of land costs, geography, fire/ambulance response times and overall citizen satisfaction, the report said.