Sugarloaf (CO) Fire Protection District’s Station 2 was broken into and ransacked overnight on Monday, into Tuesday morning and authorities are looking to see who did it, according to reports from the Daily Camera and the department’s Facebook page.

According to the Facebook post, the station at 1360 Sugarloaf Road was entered and the storage areas, apparatus and equipment was pillaged and items were stolen.

“Although we are still trying to piece together exactly what was taken, we are still fully functional and will be able to respond to our customers’ need,” the department said in its Facebook posting. “Cleanup is in progress.”

Firefighters are working with the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office to solve the case and are asking anyone with information to contact authorities.

Jody Martinez

The Ukiah Daily Journal, Calif.

(MCT)

Aug. 30—It’s been 15 years since ground was broken in preparation for building a new fire station for the Hopland Volunteer Fire Department. Negotiations and fundraising for the project had taken nearly 20 years.

An Aug. 31, 2007 Page 1 article in The Ukiah Daily Journal listed contractors on the Hopland project as WIPF Construction, Lucchetti Construction and Valley Paving, and stated that “the land on which the station will be built was donated to the fire department by Rose Luchetti, Rena Trimble and Barbara Green.”

Located at the intersection of Feliz Creek Road and Road 110, it was a particularly fortunate choice of a site since the department discovered “an added bonus in the winter of 2005 when much of Hopland flooded but the land the firehouse (was to) stand on remained dry.”

Project manager and Hopland volunteer firefighter Bruce Jensen said in August 2007 that it would cost $420,000 to clear the land, and at least that much to build the firehouse.

Hoss Milone, who was Hopland’s fire chief at the time, said “It really depends on what further financial aid we get.” Ninety percent of what had already been donated had come from the Hopland Volunteer Firefighters Association.

Plans were to have the land cleared by Oct. 1, 2007, and to begin construction the following spring.

“We would never have been able to do this without volunteers,” Milone said in August 2007.

To comment on this article, provide more information or to share your memories of the project with our readers, email Jody Martinez at udjjm@ukiahdj.com.

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Bolton, CT town officials say an expansion of the fire station is needed due to modern fire trucks being bigger, JournalInquirer.com reported Tuesday. It may take some time until the town is able to fund the project, though, according to town officials.

Fire trucks were both shorter and narrower when the firehouse at 168 Bolton Center Road was built in the 1970s, an official said. As a result, the trucks are stored bumper-to-bumper, facing opposite directions so they can exit through the garage bay doors at both the front and rear.

The official said it has become a safety issue, that people should not walk between the vehicles that are parked so close together. The larger vehicles also have led to reduced maneuverability for firefighters and less space for other equipment storage.

The town has been looking at repairs and additions, such as, another bay, and some office space and space for fire equipment, rather than building a new firehouse, the report said.

The Temporary Public Building Commission, which began meeting in December 2021, has been charged with investigating the station improvements.

The Contra Costa County Fire Protection District hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday to officially reopen its Station 4 in Walnut Creek (CA), NBCBayArea.com reported.

The station, at 700 Hawthorne Drive, has been closed for nine years, due to recession cutbacks, the report said. It will once again serve the southern portions of unincorporated Walnut Creek and surrounding areas.

Con Fire said in a statement the station’s operational status is expected to reduce response times in its service area, reducing the need for responses to fire, medical and other emergencies from other nearby stations.

Last month, the district finalized its long-awaited merger with the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District, bringing 128,000 residents of East Contra Costa under the purview of the larger district, now serving 753,000 residents. The move is expected to improve and streamline service. The merger expanded the district from 304 to 553 square miles, according to the report.

The district also opened new Fire Station 95 in Oakley on June 1 and completed new station 86 in Bay Point, the report said. Planning for two new stations in Brentwood is also underway, with the district opening both in 2024.