The York village and York Beach Fire Departments spent some of their time today collecting toys. They set up in the York Hannaford parking lot at 4:30 a.m. for their third annual fill-a-fire-truck event for Toys for Tots. They're hoping to hit their goal of 1,000 toys. 

Members of the fire department said giving back to the people in need in York is why they do it every year. 

For more information and to watch the news report, view www.wmtw.com

Police officers, firefighters and other first responders are wearing pink mourning bands with a blue or red thin stripe in support of a legislation extending the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. The act provides health monitoring for people who worked at Ground Zero, or lived nearby, and health coverage and compensation for the thousands with illnesses ranging from cancer to asthma tied to toxic air. It is set to expire, in phases, if Congress does not extend it. Congress must pass an extension by December 11^th.

Mourning bands are worn as a badge cover upon the death of a member of badge wearing public safety professions. American Police Veterans began offering pink ½ inch bands in support of a call for law enforcement officers to wear pink during October in support of community awareness of breast cancer. The new bands address the broader need to fight the high risk exposure, disease and death among firefighters and police officers.

While the call for police to arrest breast cancer and for firefighters to fire breast cancer are important, American Police Veterans founder, George Brown, quickly realized that cancer is not one dimensional. The Zadroga Act demonstrates that cancer is an occupational illness affecting first responders, their families and communities. To meet the needs of community awareness and mourning the handmade bands are pink with either red or blue line for mourning.

Individual bands are available from American Police Veterans, P.O. Box 2623, Attleborough Falls, MA 02763. American Police Veterans also builds custom badges in pink finish for officers and agencies.

For additional information or to order bands visit: http://www.mourningbands.org

American Police Veterans / Badgeart is a disabled police officer owned and operated business selling custom badges, awards and recognition services. Sales fund outreach to and advocacy for disabled and retired law enforcement officers.

Drawing on Easy Pow’Air technology, LEADER’s engineers have developed the NEO concept:an optimal combination of GRILLE, PROPELLER, and SHROUD that allows the LEADER fans to achieve 20-percent greater flow rate for unrivalled power in their category.

The synergy between their technology and their aeraulic design significantly boosts the performance of the 420 mm diameter petrol-driven, electric-, and water-driven fans of the LEADER range.

The NEO concept offers an operational advantage to firefighter because as he employs compact and lightweight fans with performances until now obtained by the higher category fans.

More info: www.leadernorthamerica.com

Locution Systems, Inc. (www.locution.com), the provider of the PrimeAlert® Fire Station Alerting System for fire and EMS departments, announced that the Shelby County (TN) Fire Department has chosen to deploy Locution Systems’ PrimeAlert® as its new fire station alerting system.

The Shelby County Fire Department has 15 fire stations that cover 763 square miles and serves a population of 938,000. The Shelby County Fire Department will deploy both versions of PrimeAlert® station alerting: 1) Internet Protocol (IP)-based station alerting using a high-speed data network to transfer emergency dispatches from their 911 communications center to the department’s fire stations; and 2) PrimeAlert® Radio –automated voice alerting via the department’s emergency radio system to first responders already in the field. They use the Motorola Premier One computer-aided-dispatch (CAD) system.

In addition, the Shelby County Fire Department also will install a variety of PrimeAlert® fire station alerting technologies in their fire station that are to speed response times and to improve the health and safety of first responders. Shelby County will deploy the following additional fire station alerting technologies and devices that are part of the PrimeAlert® Fire Station Alerting System.

Shelby County will install:

• PrimeAlert® LED Reader Boards: Wall-mounted LED readers boards programmed and tied into the PrimeAlert® station alerting system in order to display emergency dispatch information visually while the dispatch is being broadcast over the fire station’s public address system;
• PrimeAlert® Response Timers: Wall-mounted digital timers which automatically start counting up in seconds once the dispatch arrives to show first responders the time it’s taking them to reach the apparatus bay;
• PrimeAlert® Thermal Printers: High-speed, rip-and-run printers that print out the emergency dispatch information being vocalized over the fire station’s PA system in seconds.
• PrimeAlert® Night Vision Illuminators: An automated fire station lighting system that “washes” the hallways with red light so that first responders can safely navigate to the apparatus bay while preserving their night vision, for emergency dispatches that arrive after dark, or in the middle of the night when the fire station personnel are sleeping.

“The PrimeAlert® Fire Station Alerting System from Locution Systems is a modular station alerting system with five key product categories: Automated Voice Alerting; Fire Station Lighting Systems and Displays; Automated Mechanical Control of fire station bay doors, traffic lights, and stoves; Zoned Alerting to mitigate sleep deprivation in multi-unit fire station; and Fire Station Sound Systems,” said Glenn Neal, Locution Systems president, founder, and chief technology officer.

“Shelby County has chosen to deploy the IP and radio versions of automated voice alerting, along with other devices and systems that help speed response times, and reduce stress and sleep deprivation for first responders – and we welcome Shelby County to the Locution Systems family of fire and EMS departments using PrimeAlert® throughout North America.”