The City of Tampa and Tampa Fire Rescue are proud to announce the grand opening of Fire Station 25, an exclusive “rescue station” to serve the Sulphur Springs community and the surrounding neighborhoods.
In September 2021, Tampa City Council approved around $3.4M to provide Fire Station 25 with four additional personnel and two new rescue units.

Fire Station 25 will operate solely as a rescue station, which means trained firefighter paramedics assigned there will respond to medical calls and other emergencies. These rescue units are especially critical for this area, where 90 percent of the calls are EMS in nature. 

Mayor Jane Castor said this new, renovated fire station will play a pivotal role in easing the burden on nearby fire stations.

“In an emergency, every second matters,” Mayor Castor said. “This new station will allow us to continue to shorten our response times in a fast-growing area of Tampa.” 

The opening of Fire Station 25 will specifically help support Fire Station 13, one of the busiest fire stations in the country.  
“We are excited for the opening of Station 25, a much-needed addition for our citizens,” Chief Barbara Tripp said. “To ensure Tampa has America’s best fire rescue department, we are improving service to meet our community’s needs.”

“For too long the men and women of Fire Station 13 have carried a disproportionately heavy burden of service calls,” said Councilman Luis Viera, who serves North Tampa. “This station will go a long way to providing much-needed relief to the firefighters working in North Tampa and the residents they serve. I thank Mayor Castor and Chief Tripp for their collaboration and leadership in making these critical improvements in public safety.”  

“Residents living in Sulphur Springs are thrilled to have this new fire station in their neighborhood,” said Councilman Orlando Gudes. “We thank the brave men and women of Tampa Fire Rescue for protecting this great community.”

Fire Station 25, located at 710 E. Fairbanks St., is at the site of the old Fire Station 11. Prior to renovations, the Tampa Police Department’s K9 Unit was utilizing the building for training.  

The construction of Fire Station 25 was paid for in part with federal American Rescue Plan (ARPA) Act money, supported by U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (FL14).   

Spartan Emergency Response—South Chicago Heights (IL) Fire Department pumper. Metro Star LFD cab and chassis; Cummins L9 450-hp engine; Waterous CSU 2,250-gpm pump; UPF Poly 750-gallon water tank; 30-gallon foam cell; Elkhart model 240-125-gpm eductor foam unit. Dealer: Chris Sewell, Fire Apparatus Supply Team, Lincoln, IL.

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DuPont Personal Protection recognized the latest in Nomex® design ingenuity during the 2022 Nomex® Innovation Awards at Interschutz, a leading trade fair for fire and rescue services, civil protection and safety and security sectors. The seventh annual award ceremony was held in Hannover, Germany on June 21, 2022, and highlighted collaboration between European Nomex® partners and DuPont in developing solutions made with Nomex® in applications that help provide enhanced end-user safety.

Alfons Held, Global Marketing Manager for Emergency Response, DuPont, announced the winners during a recognition ceremony.

“The Nomex® Innovation Awards spotlight product developments that help make a positive impact on worker safety,” Held said. “These awards recognize the ongoing commitment to technology, leadership and innovation of our Nomex® partners, the power of our joint collaboration and underscores the proven performance of Nomex® across a range of applications.”

The 2022 Nomex® Innovation Awards included four main categories, including a new category, Nomex® Xtreme Performance; in addition to Sustainability; Comfort; and Other Innovations.

Earlier this year, DuPont launched Nomex® Xtreme Performance—a product category offering ease of selection of innovative personal protective equipment (PPE) solutions for structural and nonstructural firefighting gear. Solutions in the new Nomex® Xtreme Performance category combine the superior benefits of DuPont™ Nomex^®, DuPont™ Kevlar^® and high-performance materials such as PBO, Nomex^® Nano and Nomex^® Nano Flex to help provide firefighters with superior thermal protection and moisture management, along with protection from heat, flame, chemicals, cuts and hazardous particulates.

This year’s category applications included structural firefighting and wildland firefighting.

Winners in the structural firefighting category included:

SCANTEX Crossfire, Outer layer built with DuPont™ Nomex® 3DP Plus and DuPont™ Kevlar®. This new outershell solution in the Nomex® Xtreme Performance category provides superior durability and comfort; built-in heat and flame resistance; and unmatched mechanical strength.

S-GARD, SWISSGARD 2.0, Outer layer built with DuPont™ Nomex® RSK, Inner layer built with DuPont™ Nomex® Comfort. This garment is optimized for greater mobility and enhanced comfort.

Winners in the wildland firefighting category included:

SIOEN, Oxylus NYO wildland firefighting gear, garment made of a three-layer laminate, built with DuPont™ Nomex® Comfort Ripstop, particulate barrier built with DuPont™ Nomex® Nano, Inner layer built with DuPont™ Nomex® Knit. This solution in the Nomex® Xtreme Performance category is the first wildland gear with a particulate barrier to be introduced to the wildland firefighting market.

Heinrich Vorndamme O.H.G., Fire Fox Twin, Outer layer built with DuPont™ Nomex® VRW. This gear is an innovative combination of layers designed to meet the requirements of both wildland firefighting and technical rescue. One layer of this solution can be worn by itself for wildland firefighting; the other layer can be worn by itself for technical rescue; and when both layers are worn together, it is a dual-purpose garment.

To learn more about Nomex® Xtr

Jeanette DeForge

masslive.com

(MCT)

CHICOPEE – City officials have agreed to spend nearly $1.5 million to make repairs to two fire stations and replace equipment, but they may not see some of the new vehicles they want to purchase for months if not years.

The City Council voted on Tuesday to buy six police cruisers, an ambulance, a sanitation truck and make the repairs to the two stations. All the expenses were approved in unanimous votes.

Before the fiscal year ended on June 30, Mayor John L. Vieau and the City Council agreed to deposit $2 million from the free cash account into a capital improvement fund. About $1.15 million of the expenses will be withdrawn from the fund.

The remaining $317,603, which will be used to purchase the sanitation truck, will come from fees that residents pay to purchase trash bags if they have more refuse that will fit in the one trash barrel allotted per household.

The biggest problem now is that it is taking as long as two years to get some vehicles delivered because of worldwide supply chain problems. Some companies on the state bid list have also stopped taking orders because they are so backlogged due to a lack of computer chips and other parts, Vieau said.

“It has been very frustrating,” Vieau said. “As vehicles are coming to the end of their useful life, we are trying to be a little more proactive.”

The city ordered sanitation trucks last August and in October and do not expect to get them until spring at the earliest, said Elizabeth Batista, Department of Public Works superintendent.

“We don’t want a catastrophic situation. With this lead time we don’t want to gamble with this,” she said.

The city is also waiting for a dump truck and at least three pickup trucks for different departments, said Allen Ryczek, who runs the city’s central maintenance garage.

“If we order it tomorrow we don’t expect to see it for two years,” he said.

He noted that Chicopee has been financially able to replace vehicles on a regular basis and the life of most is much longer than what is predicted by manufacturers thanks to good maintenance. There are no dire problems yet, Ryczek added.

One sanitation truck, howeve,r has been out of commission for more than a month because it needs a part that is unavailable.

The one thing the city will be able to get is cruisers, which are already earmarked for the department. The Police Department does try to purchase some every year because they are always on the road and this year will replace six at a cost of about $324,500, Chief Patrick Major said.

Fire Chief Daniel Stamborski also talked about the importance of a new ambulance. The Fire Department tries to replace ambulances, or use them as backup vehicles, once one hits 80,000 miles. Currently there are four in the fleet and just one is below that at 32,400 miles. There is a new one on back order as well.

As part of the capital improvement package, the City Council approved about $350,000 for the ambulance.

The City Council also approved $64,600 to fix a concrete floor that is delaminating and uneven at Fire Station 8 on St. James Street.

It also approved spending $414,300 to remove an underground diesel fuel tank from Station 5, on Chicopee Street. The tank is coming to the end of its useful life and the city is repaving the lot so it would save money to do the work now. It will be replaced with an above-ground tank, Stamborski said.

The original cost estimate for t