South Laguna Beach residents will have a new fire station in the future, after the city council approved the acquisition of a parcel of land for the location of the new Fire Station No. 4 and related public use facility, Patch.com reported.

The fire station will be located on 31796 Coast Highway, where a current dental office stands, the report said.

The $6.1 million acquisition comes after the city came to an agreement with the owner of the land to purchase the three parcels located on Coast Highway at Fifth Avenue, according to the report.

By Alan M. Petrillo

Hazardous materials response depends on the region of the country, the fire departments located within that area, and the agency purchasing the rig.

So, departments and regional fire agencies around the country are being outfitted with everything from large hazmat/rescue vehicles to semi-size trailers and small trucks and trailers carrying the basic minimum hazmat gear.

Joel Konecky, vice president of sales for SVI Trucks, says the vast majority of the hazmat trucks SVI has been building are large units, often with slide-outs to expand the interior space. He says SVI built a hazmat truck for the Winnipeg (MB) Fire and Paramedic Service on an International tandem rear axle chassis and two-door cab with a 30-foot aluminum body and three slide-outs.

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“Wheelbase on the truck is 310 inches, overall length is 41 feet 6 inches, and overall height is 12 feet 10 inches,” Konecky says. “It has a Command Light CL series light tower, a Bosch Starlight camera on a Will-Burt telescoping mast, an Orion vehicle-mounted weather station, OnScene Solutions heavy-duty cargo slides, a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) storage module, and a Norcold refrigerator/freezer.”

For the Pueblo West (CO) Fire Department, SVI built a hazmat truck on a Spartan Metro Star single rear axle chassis and cab with a 20-inch raised roof, powered by a 450-horsepower (hp) Cummins L9 diesel engine and Allison 3000 EVS automatic transmission. “Pueblo West’s truck has a 20-foot walk-in body with exterior storage compartments, a crew area and command center inside along with bench seating, an Onan Protec 20-kilowatt (kW) power takeoff (PTO) generator, a Command Light CL series light tower, and a Carefree

The Northern Lakes Fire District is seeing an influx of service calls, and with fewer people on board, it’s taking longer to answer calls for help, KXLY.com reported. But help is on the way. 

The fire district was just awarded a $4.5 million grant to hire 12 firefighters and staff a third fire station for the area. The new station will be in Garwood (ID) and would decrease the time it takes for fire crews to respond to that area, while also alleviating staffing issues, the report said.

Firefighters in the district say they don’t just need a third station, but a fourth as well, the report said.

Like many departments, Carrollton Fire Rescue used apparatus to serve as a blocker truck when responding car crashes. But over three-and-a-half years, that apparatus got hit four times.

Now the department has fabricated a blocker trailer that it dispatches to every automobile accident to provide protection to the crews on the scene with less expense when a driver accidentally rams the barrier.

The CBS Dallas reports that the trailer has already proved its value. After being in service less than a month, the trailer has already been hit at a crash scene, protecting a police officer working the crash.