The following news release was issued by Moose Boats in February 2023:

Moose Boats, LLC, a boat designer and manufacturer in the San Francisco Bay Area, was awarded a contract from the Woodbridge Fire District for the construction of a M3-36 Monohull to serve as a fire boat in the San Joaquin Delta.

The San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors awarded the Woodbridge Fire District funding for a new fire boat. The awarded funds are from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which a large portion of ARPA funds are intended for public safety.

Moose Boats was selected as the builder of choice by the Woodbridge FD. The fire district has ordered a M3 Moose Monohull fire boat with twin 300 hp Mercury outboards and a dedicated fire pump to flow through two monitors at approximately 1,500 gpm. This vessel is also equipped with dive platform doors to help facilitate water rescue operations upon the delta waters.

The Woodbridge Fire District is an all risk agency covering 197 square miles and approximately 500 linear miles of the San Joaquin Delta with four fire stations. Jurisdictional responsibilities include the San Joaquin River and many of the sloughs and marinas between Stockton and Terminous. The new fire boat will be berthed at Tower Park Marina, “where our current boat is,” according to Fire Chief Darin Downey.

For more information about the Woodbridge Fire District, please visit woodbridgefire.org.

ABOUT MOOSE BOATS, LLC
Moose Boats, a division of Lind Marine LLC, is an established, innovative and reputable boat builder with an
extensive list of high-profile, discerning customers throughout the United States. Each Moose Boat is custom built
to address the unique and specific mission requirements of each customer. Moose Boats focuses on unmatched
quality, attention to detail and the driving philosophy of “doing things the right way” to build the highest quality,
most user-friendly boats in the industry.

The city of Newnan held a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday for the new fire training facility at 473 Greison Trail, the department said in a news release.

Fire Chief Stephen Brown remarked, “We appreciate the support of the City Council and the citizens through SPLOST as we take this important step in upgrading our department’s training facility. Our new facility will include a four-story burn building, training tower, classroom, driving course, and drafting pit. It will ensure we are able to continue upholding the highest standards of training as we serve our community.”

Voters initially approved allocating $1.75 million for an upgraded fire training facility, times-herald.com reported. In May 2022, Newnan City Council members approved increasing the budget for the project to $3.8 million, the report said.

The Blanche and Taft communities will be getting a new fire station thanks, in part, to the Lincoln County school board donating one and a half acres of the Blanche School property for its new location, elkvalleytimes.com reported.

Preliminary figures of $200,000 would build the fire station with four bays and between two and four sleeping rooms, a fire official said, according to the report.

The new facility will be located on the southeast corner of Highway 110 and Luther Road.

The Blanche Volunteer Fire Station has a pumper truck and a small rescue truck, which houses medical supplies and extraction equipment, the report said.

The Blanche Fire Department began with a 1977 Ford truck donated by Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in June of 1977, according to the department’s website. It was housed in a county-owned building. Since that time, the county has added a new metal building for a substation in Taft.

The Huttig Fire Department recently added an aerial truck to its fleet in a first for the city, eldoradonews.com reported.

The truck will be in service within the next month, a fire official said, joining the department’s three pumper trucks, tanker truck, brush truck, ambulance, service trailer and emergency medical side-by-side, the report said.

It’s not the biggest truck in terms of water pumping capacity, but the fire official said it will expand the department’s ability to fight fires, according to the report.