Ground was broken December 1 for a new $11.1 million North Shore Fire Station 41 for the Riverside County Fire Department, according to a news release from the Riverside County Facilities Management Department.

The ceremony was held at the future site of the fire station in the community of North Shore, 99-054 Sea View Drive.

This new and long awaited North Shore Fire Station 41 will replace the community’s existing fire station, which has served the community since 1964. The modern and energy-efficient facility will be a significant upgrade in improving conditions for the fire personnel stationed in North Shore, as well as in fire response.

“This is the first major investment in county fire station facilities in a decade,” said Supervisor V. Manuel Perez. “A new state-of-the-art fire station has been a long time coming in North Shore for our firefighters and community, replacing an aging, outgrown and dilapidated facility. This is important infrastructure for the community of North Shore that will provide a great resource to serve the community for years to come.”

The construction contract was awarded to Riverside-based Tilden-Coil Constructors and Holt Architecture of Palm Desert. The estimated $11.1 million project is led by the Riverside County Facilities Management Department.

“Facilities Management is honored to be a part of bringing a modern Fire Station to the North Shore community,” said Riverside County Facilities Management Director Rose Salgado. “This is one of hopefully many more meaningful and rewarding projects that we are proud to be a part of that will provide fire responders a much needed safe and productive work environment.”

The future fire station will include living quarters, a large kitchen, individual bedrooms and additional restrooms to provide first responders more privacy and reduce the spread of illness. The fire station will also include state-of-the-art, environmentally efficient systems for cleaning the fire personnel personal protective equipment, or PPE.

A larger apparatus bay will also be a feature of the facility, which is a much-needed upgrade. The current station has only a metal awning cover, which limits security of fire personnel and limits protection of fire apparatus from harsh desert weather elements. A carport for station staff parking, gym and backup power generator are also added features for this long‑awaited facility.

Riverside County Fire Chief Bill Weiser states, “We are so proud of what this new facility means to the community of North Shore and our first responders. Our goal is and will always be to provide the highest level of care to the residents and visitors in the community of North Shore and throughout the county. Collectively, we are very excited for this facility and its features as they relate to protecting our communities and first responders alike

The Waynesboro Fire Department is adding a second home to the West End, The News Virginian reported. Fifteen years ago, the citizens of Waynesboro voted in favor of a second fire station in a city referendum.

However, a national recession followed, then a pandemic and little movement took place on the project. Meanwhile the West End continued to grow, the report said.

Now, the city is stepping up to make the West End project happen. Waynesboro has a contract for two parcels of land on Osage Lane just off Lew DeWitt Boulevard midway between the intersections of West Main Street and Rosser Avenue, the report said. The 2.5 acres of land carry a cost of just over $1.070 million. Waynesboro City Council is expected to approve the purchase of the land at its December 12 meeting, according to the report.

Having Waynesboro firefighters on the West End means emergencies will will get answered in a quicker time, the report said.

Recently, Horry County Government received shipment of five new identical Pierce fire engines for Horry County Fire Rescue.

In the coming days and weeks, Fleet Services will be finalizing preparations for these new engines, so they can be sent out to their new homes across Horry County.

By Alan M. Petrillo

WEB EXCLUSIVE

Somerdale (NJ) Fire Department found it needed to replace a 14-year-old rescue-pumper with a rig that was a multi-use piece of apparatus because of the growing community that the department serves. It’s previous rescue-pumper was a Ferrara Fire Apparatus vehicle, so the department felt very comfortable going back to Ferrara to have it build its new multi-functional rescue-pumper.

Brian Barkoff, Somerdale’s chief, says Somerdale is a 1.5-square mile town that’s a suburb of Philadelphia with a population of 6,000. “We’re primarily a bedroom community with a commercial area that has a shopping mall, theaters and retail businesses, along with a small industrial park,” Barkoff says. “We have 40 volunteer firefighters responding out of one station with a Ferrara engine and quint, our new rescue-pumper, and an air/light truck. We’re on automatic mutual aid for every structure fire in a six-square mile area with a 21,500 population.”

Steve Shatzel, project manager for Firefighter One Apparatus, which sold the vehicle to Somerdale, says the rescue-pumper is built on a Cinder chassis and cab with seating for six firefighters, five of them in SCBA (self contained breathing apparatus) seats. He notes that the rig is powered by a 450-horsepower (hp) Cummins L9 diesel engine and an Allison 3000 EVS automatic transmission, and has a Hale Qmax 2,000-gallon per minute (gpm) pump, and a 500-gallon polypropylene water tank. Wheelbase on the rescue-pumper is 205 inches, overall length is 33 feet 11-3/4-inches, and overall height is 9 feet 5-1/4-inches.

Barkoff notes that the department wanted to increase the usability of its new rescue-pumper, so it added more preconnected hosed Holmatro hydraulic rescue tools to the rig. “In the R1 compartment, we have three slide-out trays, one with four Holmatro rams and a mini-cutter, a second one with two hydraulic cutters and one spreader, and on the third slide-out tray, a gasoline-drive hydraulic pump,” he says. “Two hydraulic hose reels are located in the coffin compartment above the R1 compartment and feed their hydraulic hoses down into the top of the compartment.̶