Devyani Chhetri
The Dallas Morning News
(TNS)

City officials have a new pitch for the beleaguered extended-stay hotel they wanted to use for homeless services in southern Dallas: a new fire station.

The city purchased the property at 4150 Independence Drive for $5 million in bond money during the COVID-19 pandemic for permanent supportive housing. Since then, its journey has been muddled with community concerns, including not being notified about the city’s plans and the lack of movement on the property.

Several council members in the city’s government performance and financial management committee were surprised to hear about the proposal to convert the facility into a fire station.

“I just wonder if we are unwilling to say publicly that we bought another bad property, and we’re somehow making this into a fire station,” council member Cara Mendelsohn said.

Council member Zarin Gracey, who inherited the property after council districts were redrawn, told The Dallas Morning News that the fire station was one among several ideas pitched for the site after it became apparent that the building had growing infrastructural concerns.

“It’s an early conversation,” he said, adding his constituents had been asking for public safety amenities and a new fire station could also prompt the possibility of a new police substation.

City officials told council members earlier this year that no developer had opted to revamp the property after rounds of outreach, and the situation had grown worse after they realized that a significant portion of the property had structural issues and leaks in water pipes. It would cost the city nearly $30 million to renovate the property.

The city’s fire department and data analytics department evaluated the viability of the property and said it was “an ideal location for a new fire station” and the area usually has a response time that’s 30 seconds longer than the city average.

But some council members were not convinced if that was reason enough.

“Are we trying to create a lemonade here?” said council member Paula Blackmon, adding she had never heard the need for a new fire station or lagging response times in this area before.

Peter Jansen, an executive at the commercial real estate firm CBRE who has been helping the city with its real estate, told council members that he could sense there was uncertainty surrounding the return on investment, should the property be sold, and if it would be enough to outweigh the possibility of simply repurposing the facility.

Gracey’s district includes a second homelessness housing project on Hampton Road, which is also embroiled in a fight with nearby residents who decried the lack of city communication about the project and had qualms with the presence of a homeless facility near a school, park and residential area.

The two properties have been top of mind for Gracey. In the past, the District 3 council member indicated he wanted the city to sell the Hampton Road property — a former hospital campus — in lieu of bringing in more retail or single-family housing on the site.

The city has indicated a move to tap both sites as surplus properties that the city can sell the property if it needed to, Gracey said.

Other council members have offered other solutions when it comes to the&

Billy Chapman
Hickory Daily Record, N.C.
(TNS)

“It is with a heavy heart that I deliver the news that no fire chief ever wants to deliver. Yesterday we lost one of our own, Hickory firefighter Jake Bridges, while on duty,” Hickory Fire Chief Matt Hutchinson said in a news release from the fire department. “We are working with our state partner agencies to gain a better understanding of this tragedy.”

The release said Hickory firefighters responded to a structure fire on 15th Avenue NE at 1:49 a.m. Thursday. Firefighters cleared the scene at 4:52 a.m.

After returning to the fire station, Bridges suffered a medical emergency and was taken to a local hospital. Bridges died at the hospital, the Hickory Fire Department said in the press release.

Bridges graduated from Gaston College Fire Academy in 2022 and joined the Hickory Fire Department in June 2023 as a level II firefighter and emergency medical technician.

“Hickory Fire Department grieves this tragic loss and mourns with Jake’s family, friends and the community. The department thanks the community and all partner agencies and neighboring departments for their support during this difficult time,” the release said.

Hickory City Council Ward 2 representative Charlotte Williams said in an email response sent to city employees and news agencies, “Such a sad and tragic loss. His family will be in our prayers.”

© 2025 Hickory Daily Record, N.C.. Visit www.hickoryrecord.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The post Hickory (NC) FD Says Firefighter, 20, Died on Duty After Returning from Fire appeared first on Fire Apparatus: Fire trucks, fire engines, emergency vehicles, and firefighting equipment.

It doesn’t feel that long ago (2018) that Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment tackled the topic of potential tariffs and their impact on the fire service. Many times, our thoughts immediately moved toward fire apparatus and how tariffs would impact their costs and production. Given the current context of lead times and costs for fire trucks, it’s natural to do the same thing now as Washington, D.C., announces a variety of tariffs at different levels. But, it’s important to remember that many other fire truck components and tools we use regularly could be affected.

Currently, given how often the narrative changes, it’s difficult to pin down what, if any, impacts fire service suppliers are experiencing regarding various tariffs, especially the recently announced tariffs on steel and aluminum that went into effect on June 4.

Paul Darley, CEO of Darley, says that tariffs have not impacted the company’s supply chain significantly. “We try to use USA manufacturers and suppliers wherever possible,” he states.

According to a statement from the REV Fire Group, “Since the tariffs were announced, REV Group’s supply chain team has been working diligently with our suppliers to gain a greater understanding of their financial impacts. Suppliers have been broadly cooperative, though select suppliers have revealed opportunism in leveraging these circumstances to increase pricing unauthentically.”

John Pfeifer, president, chief executive officer, and director, Oshkosh Corp., parent company of Pierce Manufacturing, explained at its Q1 earnings call that nearly all of what the company sells is built in the United States, and the company has a broad US production footprint. The company is proactively working with its supply chain, which is global, to mitigate potential impacts from tariffs. It also is not experiencing any supply chain disruptions or reductions in demand due to tariffs

Impacts to customers, for Darley, are expected to affect export sales. “The primary impact is on our export sales, which in some years, can account for up to 50% of our fire pump sales,” he says. The bottom line is that suppliers are working to limit tariff effects on customers. “About 15% of our suppliers are imposing tariffs price increases on us,” says Darley. “So far, we have not passed along any of these price increases on to our customers.”

And, the REV Fire Group spokesman says, “The REV Group’s supply chain team continues to negotiate and mitigate exposure, while enacting offsets to neutralize the impacts, on behalf of our valued fire departments.”

Fire departments should contact their fire apparatus and equipment vendors for more specific information.

The post Tariffs’ Impacts: What We Know So Far appeared first on Fire Apparatus: Fire trucks, fire engines, emergency vehicles, and firefighting equipment.

Bulloch County Fire Department Station 9 in Clito, Georgia, will open soon with a crew of firefighters on site, the Bulloch County Board of Commissioners said in a Facebook post.

The building has been used since 1985, housing gear and apparatus for the volunteer department. It originally had only two bays, but was expanded over the years.

Using inmate crews from Bulloch County Correctional Institution, the county converted the classroom and office space and added on another 1,500 square feet to create living quarters for on-shift firefighters, the post said.

When it opens, it will be the county’s fourth staffed station.

The post Fire Station in Bulloch County (GA) Expanded to House Firefighters appeared first on Fire Apparatus: Fire trucks, fire engines, emergency vehicles, and firefighting equipment.