FWD Seagrave has expanded sales and service in the state of California to strengthen response capability for past, current, and future customers.

Charlie Zuercher has joined Seagrave and will be linked with the California-based sales team of Jim Demattei and Adrian Anderson. This team has a combined experience of more than 100 years in fire service operations and fire apparatus sales, with particular expertise in the California market. This, coupled with the robust Seagrave service centers of Fire Apparatus Solutions, SoCal Fleet, West Coast Frame, and West-Mark, encompasses the entire state of California. Customers can be confident that a qualified Seagrave representative is close by to serve their needs during and after the sale.

“Seagrave is committed to making it possible for fire departments to serve their communities with the safest and highest quality equipment available,” said Seagrave Chairman & CEO AJ Neiner.

FWD Seagrave designs, engineers and builds its own aerial apparatus and custom chassis in a variety of models to meet the significant demands of a diverse customer base. Products include: custom chassis, pumpers, tankers, rescues, hazmat, aerials, tractor-drawn aerials, platforms, Aerialscopes, and commercial wildland and brush trucks. Belmont Fire Protection District’s new 1500 GPM Pumper is an example of FWD Seagrave’s best-selling Marauder II.

Seagrave also has a significant refurbishment business including the capability to re-chassis and rebuild aerial units, restoring them, operationally, to better than original. Hayward Fire Department in California recently took delivery of a refurbished Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) vehicle for use in responding to Hayward Executive Airport (HWD), a key airport for San Francisco Bay area business and events.

“Seagrave quality provides a high lifetime value,” concluded Neiner. “Safety, durability and longevity translate to low maintenance costs and a low cost of ownership over the lifetime of a Seagrave fire truck that can last 20+ years, and this has been proven in the most demanding fire departments in the Nation.”

Seagrave, founded by Fredric Seagrave in Detroit in 1881, is the oldest manufacturer of fire apparatus in the United States. Otto Zachow and William Besserdich founded FWD Corporation in Clintonville, Wisconsin, in 1909. It became a premier manufacturer of severe-duty vehicles and produced America’s first all-wheel drive vehicle. In 1963, FWD and Seagrave merged and consolidated all operations to Clintonville, Wisconsin. FWD Seagrave has a longstanding tradition of excellence providing the safest, longest service life, and most durable heavy-duty vehicles to the U.S. Military and municipal governments.

More: www.fwdseagrave.com

A spokesman for D.C. Fire and EMS said it will start using private ambulances next month.

The temporary contract begins in 30 days with American Medical Response.

The positions that pay $20.41 an hour are for employees responding to both emergency and nonemergency calls in the District.

The move to include a third party ambulance service to supplement D.C. resources is part of the reason outgoing medical director for D.C. Fire and EMS, Jullette Saussy, resigned. Saussy wanted to improve the District staff's provision of medical care before adding staff and equipment.

Mayor Muriel Bowser has said she's committed to reforming the department and improving patient outcomes.

For more information, view wtop.com

Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences is transforming an old building near Southwest Boulevard and 17th Street into a crime scene investigation laboratory for students in its forensic sciences graduate program.

The school purchased the building, 1712 S. Phoenix Ave., at a city of Tulsa auction for $135,000 in 2014.

Total cost of the project -- scheduled to be completed in May -- is $325,000.

Once complete, the facility will be used to train graduate students in crime-scene investigation techniques and to provide training for area law enforcement officers.

Garage doors, which were walled over from the original building, are being returned to allow students to practice vehicle investigations.

The building can also be used to train canine units.

"It's going to have a multi-functional use, and in our opinion all those uses are going to benefit the city of Tulsa and state of Oklahoma making the places we live safer and more secure," Allen said.

The renovation work in the building, which housed Fire Station 6 from 1958 to 1990, includes wiring the facility for audio and video, which will allow students to review their work for what they did right and ways they might have contaminated the crime scene.

For more information, view www.tulsaworld.com