A news report looked at the case of two men who were accused of taking a fire truck on a destructive joyrdie through the town of Larne in Northern Ireland earlier this year.

The photo above shows the damaged apparatus after it was stolen from Larne Fire Station on March 5.

The Anderson (SC) Fire Department is slated to get a new ladder truck, according to a report from the Independent Mail.

Randy Bratcher, the interim fire chief, said his department currently has an engine with a 70-foot ladder, which cannot reach certain occupancies in the city. Bratcher said the ladder truck will help in his department's ongoing effort to improve the city's fire rating.

Besides the ladder truck, the city also will be buying a new fire engine, 10 air cylinders, 20 sets of protective gear for firefighters and other equipment from Spartan Fire and Emergency Apparatus Inc.

Presented with cost estimates from their architect, Montpelier's Jay White, board members voted, 4-1, to move forward with a design that they estimated would cost no more than $1.41 million to build.

As town leaders in past years split into factions over issues of cost versus long-term investment, the projected outlay fell, bit by bit, from as high as $7 million in some estimates to $3 million in two unsuccessful bond votes last year.

The debate continued, to a smaller extent, on Wednesday as board members weighed whether to adopt another cost-saving suggestion of White's: remove several parking spaces from the proposed facility's lot.

The architect recommended the reduction in order to avoid having to spend extra money -- about $100,000 -- on pervious pavement, which he said a larger lot likely would need in order to secure a stormwater permit from the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources.

This request from the Selectboard would pay for a combined police and fire station off Main Street with a rough gross square footage of 5,900.