Christopher Buchanan
Los Angeles Times
(TNS)

While attempting to transport a car crash victim to a hospital on Wednesday morning, a Los Angeles Fire Department ambulance was struck by another vehicle, authorities said.

When a battalion chief arrived at the scene to investigate the crash, they were involved in another collision at the same intersection.

The first collision occurred at 9:06 a.m. in Reseda, when a Fire Department rescue ambulance transporting a patient from an earlier accident collided with a light gray sedan on Vanowen Street and Lindley Avenue, a spokesperson for the department said.

A battalion chief then arrived to investigate the crash along with Los Angeles Police Department officials at 9:46 a.m. and collided with a vehicle in the same intersection, according to the department. No Fire Department personnel were injured in either collision, the spokesperson said.

The patient in the ambulance bore the sole injury in the plague of crashes, but the injuries were minor, officials said.

The investigation into both collisions will be conducted by police and fire officials. An LAPD spokesperson said authorities have yet to determine the causes of the back-to-back collisions.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

©2025 Los Angeles Times. Visit latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Jeremy Boyer
syracuse.com
(TNS)

Syracuse, N.Y. — A developer’s plan to convert a shuttered fire station on Syracuse’s Near East Side into a ground-level restaurant with four apartments above can move forward.

The Syracuse Common Council on Monday authorized the sale of the former Syracuse Fire Department Station 7 to JF Real Estate for $900,000. The company responded to a request for proposals the city issued in February seeking redevelopment of the former station at 1039 E. Fayette St., which closed in 2013 during former Mayor Stephanie Miner’s administration.

JF has proposed a $2.5 million project. When Mayor Ben Walsh’s administration first requested the council’s approval in June, the council said they wanted to ensure the city had a viable path to building a new fire station in that area in the future. The Near East Side has experienced significant residential growth with the construction of several massive student rental apartment buildings in recent years.

Fire Chief Michael Monds has said the city owns some parcels on University Avenue between East Fayette and Erie Boulevard that could work as a future station site. The old Station 7, built more than 70 years ago, is no longer feasible as a structure to house fire engines.

Councilors also wanted to make sure that residents of the neighboring Welch Terrace apartments were comfortable with the project, Councilor Pat Hogan said Monday. City officials have recently met with the residents and they are on board.

The Walsh administration has touted the project as a good fit for the redevelopment of the corridor between downtown and the University Hill area as the Interstate 81 viaduct comes down.

Closing on the sale of Station 7 will take about nine to 12 months, with construction taking about a year to complete, city officials have said.

City reporter Jeremy Boyer can be reached at jboyer@syracuse.com, (315) 657-5673, Twitter or Facebook.

©2025 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit syracuse.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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The cost of fire apparatus has risen significantly in recent years because of a combination of material price volatility, evolving regulations, increased demand, and the complexity of custom-built vehicles. Understanding these underlying factors can help address the confusion and misinformation about pricing that is circulating in the media and can provide important context to better address today’s pricing challenges through collaborative solutions.

MATERIALS

In most fire apparatus procurements, the purchase price is set at contract award and must account for expected input costs over the manufacturing window, which can be affected by the market conditions for labor and materials at the time of order.

Historically, labor and material costs have risen at stable rates that manufacturers could estimate with a reasonable degree of confidence. Recently, however, labor and material prices have been impacted by a confluence of factors, including the Pandemic, inflation, and tariffs, which make it difficult for apparatus manufacturers and component suppliers to reliably project future costs.

Material costing started to impact fire apparatus and component manufacturers in 2018 when tariffs on steel and aluminum were first introduced. The shortage of microchips needed to manufacture vehicles that followed in 2022 further drove up costs and slowed production lines dramatically.

In the case of aluminum—a major material used for apparatus manufacturing—Graph 1 shows that the price has risen from $1.18/pound in January 2024, to $1.41/pound in January 2025, and up to $1.72/pound in June 2025, reflecting an increase of 19.5% over the initial 12 months and more than 45% over the 18-month period. This rapid rise in aluminum pricing represented at the far right of Graph 1 is largely a result of recently announced aluminum tariffs, and the full impact of this increase has not yet worked its way into the market. The United States produces less than 1% of the primary aluminum produced worldwide, so it relies on imports, which means the tariffs will continue to influence aluminum costs.

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• Fire Apparatus Purchasing in 2025
• Understanding Today’s Fire Apparatus Lead Times

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Steel is the other commonly used material for manufacturing fire apparatus and components, and the United States imports approximately 25% of the steel used here. Tariffs on steel also add to manufacturing costs.

REGULATION

The most recent round of EPA regulations mandated changes to engines manufactured after January 1, 2027. These changes had impacts to not only fire apparatus design, but also pricing. Truck manufacturers had to take into account the additional costs of not only the new engine, but also the engineering costs associated with modifying truck chassis and bodies to accommodate the new engine designs and syste

The Town of Emerald Isle (NC) ordered two new pumpers and two new ambulances for the fire department recently, wcti12.com reported.

The department expects to have these new emergency apparatus in service by spring 2026, the report said.

The new apparatus will replace a 2004 pumper and a 2009 pumper. The new ambulances will replace a 2010 model and a 2015 model.

The total cost of each new pumper is approximately $876,000, while each new ambulance has a total cost of approximately $322,000, according to the report.

The town is utilizing FEMA funding received following Hurricane Florence for the purchase of all four new vehicles.

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