In brief: Fire department buying three new pumper trucks

The Spokane Fire Department will purchase three new pumper trucks to replace vehicles in its aging fleet. The trucks cost about $586,000 each.

The company supplying the trucks, Pierce Manufacturing, was one of two bids that came in, though it did not submit the lowest bid.

General Fire Apparatus said it could supply the pumper trucks for $27,000 less per vehicle than Pierce. Fire officials said at a recent public safety committee meeting that the company did not meet the minimum specifications for the bid. Chief Bobby Williams said General Fire doesn’t have a proven track record for its pumper chassis. General Fire’s pumper chassis were first manufactured less than four years ago, and his department plans to use the trucks for upward of 20 years.

The trucks will be capable of pumping 1,500 gallons of water per minute.

The purchase was approved on Monday by the Spokane City Council.

Police arrest five in series of burglaries

Spokane police broke up a home burglary ring that they say stole electronics, guns and cash to finance drug habits.

Police arrested three men and two women over the past two weeks for their alleged involvement in five home burglaries in north Spokane, Spokane Valley and Nine Mile Falls, according to court documents.

The burglaries took place from May to July. One victim said the items stolen from him were worth more than $11,000.

The group also is suspected in a commercial burglary at H&R Block on North Division Street.

The suspects told police they traded the items they stole for drugs or money and looked for houses to break into because they did not have money to support their drug habits.

Seattle teachers vote to keep talks going

SEATTLE – Teachers from the state’s largest school district voted Monday to keep on bargaining toward a new contract. The Seattle Education Association also set a Sept. 3 meeting when they will vote on either a tentative contract agreement or a strike.

Bargaining chairwoman Phyllis Campano, who is the union’s vice president, said Seattle teachers want a contract, but they’re ready to strike if they cannot reach an agreement with the school district.

Campano said the issues involve teacher pay, evaluations and hours, as well as student testing, discipline, the opportunity gap and recess time.

More than 1,500 people attended the union meeting at Benaroya Hall in downtown Seattle on Monday evening.

Warm water kills steelhead fingerlings

EUGENE – Unusually warm water has killed more than 150,000 summer steelhead fingerlings at an Umpqua River hatchery.

Many more may still die, potentially as much as 95 percent of this year’s batch, Rock Creek Hatchery manager Dan Meyer told the Register Guard.

Hot water is dangerous for fish on its own, but it also creates an environment where bacteria and parasites can thrive.

Although the fish were treated in smaller holding tanks and returned to health when the problem was detected, disease broke out again once they were moved back outside.

Man dies after jump from Alaska bridge

SITKA, Alaska – A Washington state man has died after a failed attempt to swim to shore after jumping off a bridge in Sitka.

Alaska State Troopers said in a Web posting the body of 29-year-old Tyler Jones of Bellingham was recovered Saturday morning.

Authorities said he told a friend he was jumping off the John O’Connell Bridge in Sitka late Friday night and he would swim to shore.

But he wasn’t seen after jumping into the water. The Coast Guard found his body Saturday.

Sitka police continue to investigate.

Crash scares away apartment burglar

A woman who accidentally crashed into an Olympia apartment complex may have scared away a burglar.

Olympia police said a woman was at the complex to assist a disabled friend Aug. 19. As she was leaving in her car, she hit the gas pedal instead of the brake, sending the vehicle over the curb and into the building.

The resident of the damaged apartment returned home after the accident, police said, and discovered her bedroom window was open with the window blinds torn up and the window screen in the bushes outside.

She told police her window had been closed when she left earlier that day. She also said her front and back doors, which were found unlocked, had been locked before she left, according to police.

Police said nothing was stolen, and that it appeared to an attempted burglar was scared off when the vehicle crashed into the building.