According to a report from FOX16, Alexander (AR) Fire Department (AFD) crews were apparently left without any working fire trucks over the past weekend.

AFD Chief Mark Ridgeway said he has five apparatus in his fleet, but the last remaining operational truck went down last week because of a blown tire.

Ridgeway said that, although maintenance is routine on all AFD vehicles, the fleet is aging, and a new truck could cost more than $1 million on an already stretched budget. As a result, crews from neighboring towns are being called in for mutual aid. One example took place at 6:20 a.m. Monday morning, when Shannon Hills volunteer firefighters were called to help a woman who was not breathing.

Records revealed that rescue personnel arrived on scene in less than 10 minutes. However, officials said that, even if AFD trucks were running, it would not have changed the outcome; the victim was deceased when crews arrived.

Ridgeway lamented his department’s aging fleet and said things are getting worse by the day.

As of Monday evening, the AFD has one working engine, and they are once again taking calls. Ridgeway said he hopes to have the remaining fire trucks operational again in the next few days.

Alexander Mayor Paul Mitchell said the current situation is new to the town, but also said it has never been left without fire protection because of its mutual-aid agreements with neighboring cities.

Mitchell said the trucks are older but still repairable and fixable, and that the city has made previous attempts to get grants to buy new trucks. However, the city was never awarded the grants.

An Atlanta city councilman says he is questioning why taxpayers are spending twice as much to build a fire station and why city managers are coming back to ask for multi-millions to complete a station in the northwest part of town.

Tennessee City Fire Captain Ted Presgraves was struck by a van that was passing the scene of a tractor trailer fire Monday night. Presgraves was airlifted to Vanderbilt University Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.

The Tennessee City Volunteer Fire Department was called to the scene of the tractor trailer fire in Hickman County on West Bound I-40 at about 8:48 p.m. to provide mutual aid support to Bucksnort Fire Rescue.

Implementing a Blocking Engine Program

At about 9:39 p.m. a van traveling west bound on the highway struck tanker 522 and hit Presgraves, who was standing at the tanker’s pump panel, the fire department said in a Facebook post.

The van continued on to strike another vehicle. Presgraves was operated on Monday morning to treat his injuries, the fire department said.

Related:

• I-77 Crash Injures West Yadkin (NC) Firefighter, Destroys Tanker
• Minquadale (DE) Fire Company Apparatus Hit, Three Firefighters Injured
• Farmington City (UT) Fire Apparatus Hit During Car Chase
• Olean (NY) Fire Department’s Engine 40 Damaged
• Driver Seriously Injured After Colliding with Back of Kansas City (MO) Fire Truck

Brian Arola

The Free Press, Mankato, Minn.

(MCT)

Jul. 19—After a groundbreaking ceremony Monday, construction on St. Peter’s new fire station will begin shortly in anticipation of a 2023 finish.

The fire station on the northwest corner of the Broadway Avenue and Sunrise Drive intersection will be more than triple the size of the volunteer fire department’s 1920s-era hall on Mulberry Street. Voter and legislative approval paved the way for a 0.5% sales tax increase that kicked in on July 1 to fund up to $9.1 million of the project.

At Monday’s groundbreaking, Fire Chief Matt Ulman called the occasion a move forward toward modernizing the department’s emergency response.

“It feels good to see this moving forward,” he said. “It’s been long overdue; we started talking about this 25-30 years ago and since then stuff became outdated.”

A new fire station has been on the city’s wish list for years. The old, 8,100-square-feet building wasn’t built to be a fire hall, starting as a county garage.

As firefighting equipment evolved, the fire hall stayed the same. The new station will allow for more training and community space along with more room for equipment, Ulman said.

City and fire department leaders held open houses in October to showcase the old building’s limitations. Council member Darrell Pettis, a longtime volunteer firefighter, said most people who took tours before the election came away saying “you need to do this.”

“We have more equipment than we can fit in that building now,” he said. “You’ll see stuff parked outside and it’s because there’s no other room.”

Voters went on to approve a sales tax, as opposed to relying on property taxes, for funding by a 87-13 margin in November. The community’s support for the fire station project has been strong throughout, said Mayor Shanon Nowell.

The sales tax will either be in effect for 40 years or until it raises $9.1 million, whichever comes first. Using sales tax rather than property taxes means people who shop in but don’t live in St. Peter will contribute to the cost.

St. Peter’s latest “hot sheet” newsletter noted the city’s new sales tax after the 0.5% kicked in, 7.875%, is equal to Mankato’s.

Inflation has driven the project cost up by about $440,000 as of late June. Property taxes will be needed to fund overages beyond the stated sales tax amount, but can be spread out over decades.

The project is a momentous day for St. Peter, said City Administrator Todd Prafke, adding it will improve safety.

“We want to ensure the safety of the firefighters, and that helps ensure the safety of the community,” he said.

The project remains on track for an August to September 2023 completion date.

Follow Brian Arola @BrianArola

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