New equipment was approved by the Elma City Council for the Elma Fire Department at their last meeting held Sept. 6.

The extrication equipment (or jaws of life) currently used by the Elma Fire Department is 23 years old and is beginning to fail, Fire Chief Tyson Boling said in a letter to the council. Boling did not attend the meeting because he was at a pump training class that day.

The department had applied for grant funding to purchase new equipment and was denied.

Boling said the department researched different brands and models, all of which are certified by the National Fire Protection Agency, and decided on TNT Rescue Systems powered hydraulic rescue tools. The EFD, Boling said in his letter, used loaner equipment from TNT and were satisfied with the power and operability of the tools.

The council members, save for Jim Taylor who was not in attendance, approved the purchase of the equipment. The cost to the city is $11,136 and will be supplemented by a $4,000 donation from the Elma Fire Department Association for a total of $15,136.

An ordinance limiting the discharge of fireworks to July 3 and 4 and also on New Year’s Eve also was approved by the city council. Previously, Elma allowed the discharge of fireworks on July 5, as well. The ordinance becomes effective in 2018.

Washington state law allows for the discharge of fireworks on June 28 (noon to 11 p.m.), June 29 to July 3 (from 9 a.m. to midnight), and on July 5 from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fireworks may also be discharged on Dec. 31 from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Jan. 1, but cities and towns may set their own limitations.

Only Councilman David Blackett voted against the ordinance and said in a later telephone interview that the ordinance is too restrictive.

“People either love them or hate them — I love them,” Blackett said of fireworks.