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National Fire News

How a Fire Department in Virginia is Changing Active Shooter Response Worldwide

VIDEO: Dr. Reed Smith knows that when it comes to active shooter emergencies, seconds matter. That’s why the emergency room doctor, who also serves as the medical director of the Arlington County Fire Department, began studying hundreds of autopsies from victims of mass shootings years ago. With other medical researchers at George Washington University, he found as many as 15 percent of victims might have lived had they gotten care quickly.
- PUB DATE: 2/25/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WRC-TV NBC 4 Washington, D.C.

Illinois: One decade later, the legacy of fallen Homewood firefighter is better training for emergency response

Every year at the end of March, firefighters and the family of fallen firefighter Brian Carey meet at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery for a memorial service. It will be 10 years ago on March 30 when 28-year-old Carey, a rookie firefighter for the Homewood Fire Department, was killed after he rushed into a burning home in an effort to rescue a resident trapped inside.
- PUB DATE: 2/25/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Chicago Tribune - Metered Site

Bill Aims to Compensate Wyoming First Responders for 'Mental Injuries'

The Wyoming Senate spent nearly an hour discussing a bill that would affect the lives of first responders across the state on Monday, Feb. 24. SF 117 would allow first responders, law enforcement officers and search and rescue workers to apply for workers’ compensation if they receive a mental injury while performing official duty.
- PUB DATE: 2/25/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Oil City News

Cleveland council members concerned, no minorities in city fire cadet class

Some Cleveland city council members expressed their disappoint and concern after they said they learned there weren't any minority candidates in the upcoming city fire department cadet class. Councilwoman Phyllis Cleveland told News 5 the current fire class applicants are made up of 42 white male candidates and no minorities, which is a violation of city guidelines, which require at least one out of every 10 candidates be a minority.
- PUB DATE: 2/25/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WEWS-TV ABC 5 Cleveland

Firefighters in Texas Inspect Residential Homes for Fire Risks Through Program

Firefighters with Dallas Fire Rescue are doing more than just fighting fires. They’re also working on growing a free program that they're calling the ultimate form of fire prevention. It's called the Home Fire Safety Survey Program, where firefighters go into your home and look for all the things that could start a fire, as well as the hazards that would make it hard for you to get out.
- PUB DATE: 2/25/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KXAS-TV NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

New South Carolina legislation proposes cancer insurance policy for afflicted firefighters

A new bill has been introduced in the South Carolina legislature that would create new a supplemental insurance policy for some firefighters diagnosed with cancer. Cancer is the leading cause of deaths in career firefighters, according to the Firefighter Cancer Support Network. While most fire departments – including the Aiken Department of Public Safety – provide cancer health care benefits to their employees, some firefighters believe the Firefighter Cancer Health Care Benefit Plan currently being discussed in the S.
- PUB DATE: 2/24/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Aiken Standard - Metered Site

NASCAR provides updates on medical team response to Ryan Newman's Daytona 500 crash

What seemed like an eternity was actually 19 seconds. After Ryan Newman’s battered race car came to rest last Monday at the end of the tri-oval in a brutal wreck at the finish of the Daytona 500, it took only 19 seconds for the first emergency vehicle to arrive, according to a chronology provided by NASCAR officials during a question-and-answer session with reporters on Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
- PUB DATE: 2/24/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Sporting News

EMS is stretched so thin in Pennsylvania that in some places, ambulance calls go unanswered

The first responders’ biggest fear was realized one night in December when someone called 911 for help in rural Erie County and nobody came. The first dispatch went to Union City Fire Co. When Union City couldn’t crew its ambulance, the call rolled over to neighboring Waterford Volunteer Fire Department.
- PUB DATE: 2/24/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Morning Call

FDNY firefighter who pulled his brother's body from the rubble at Ground Zero dies of 9/11-related cancer

A retired firefighter who pulled his brother's body from the rubble at Ground Zero died Saturday of 9/11-related pancreatic cancer, officials said. Daniel Foley watched his firefighter brother respond to 9/11 and not come back, FDNY Lt. Mickey Conboy said. Foley promised his parents he wouldn't come home until he found his brother.
- PUB DATE: 2/24/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WPIX-TV CW 11 New York

South Dakota: First team to a fire got $5 in 1880s Aberdeen

On North Main Street stands a historic little two-story brick building that once was Aberdeen Fire Station No. 2. It was built in 1930 to provide protection to the city’s north side, expanding coverage of the downtown Fire Station No. 1. It still looks much like it did back then, but No. 2 now is privately owned.
- PUB DATE: 2/24/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Aberdeen News

Dramatic video shows Indiana overpass engulfed in flames after tanker truck overturns

An overpass was set aflame after a semitrailer hauling thousands of gallons of fuel overturned in Indianapolis on Wednesday. The tanker hit a guardrail on an on-ramp from Interstate 465 to I-70, which split the tank and overturned the semi, according to the Indianapolis Fire Department. Witnesses told the fire department that the driver of the truck exited the tanker on his own with his clothes on fire.
- PUB DATE: 2/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NBC News

All in the family: FDNY father, three sons, fight fires and promote diversity together

For FDNY Firefighter Robert Thomas and his three sons, fighting fires and saving lives has become a family affair. All four are city firefighters stationed throughout Brooklyn, joining a growing number of the department’s black “legacy” families, where children follow their mothers and fathers into the FDNY.
- PUB DATE: 2/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Daily News - Metered Site

New building, new technology presents challenges for Wisconsin firefighters

The Milwaukee Fire Department is already in training for a building that hasn't broken ground yet. Ascent, an apartment building near downtown Milwaukee expected to break ground in a few months, has a tall timber frame. At 25-stories, it is expected to be the tallest building of it's kind in the world.
- PUB DATE: 2/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WDJT-TV CBS 58 Milwaukee

Rhode Island's Station Nightclub Fire: Revisiting the Lessons

On February 20, 2003, in West Warwick, Rhode Island, the fourth deadliest nightclub fire in United States history occurred in The Station nightclub. More than two-thirds of the 462 people in attendance were either killed or injured (100 dead, 230 injured). A live band that was using fireworks as part of its act ignited foam insulation that had been installed around and over the stage.
- PUB DATE: 2/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fire Engineering

Florida: Team running the Skyway 10K, carrying the weight of hundreds of fallen firefighters

VIDEO: In its three years, the Skyway 10K has seen thousands of participants. A few have traveled the bridge each year, like friends and firefighters Tom “Bull” Hill and Mike Junge. Hill walks the Skyway to honor firefighters who lost their lives to cancer and PTSD. Hill walked the Skyway in 2018 with a pack covered in the names, shields and objects from firefighters who had died from cancer or suicides related to PTSD.
- PUB DATE: 2/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTSP-TV CBS 10 St. Petersburg

Massive Times Square billboard thanks the firefighters who battled Australia's devastating fires

VIDEO: After months of devastation, all the fires burning in the Australian state of New South Wales were declared contained for the first time last week. And who else to thank but the thousands of firefighters who have put their life on the line to extinguish them? Knowing that a simple "thank you" wouldn't suffice, the NSW Rural Fire Service took out a 70-foot billboard in New York's Times Square to thank all the firefighters who helped battle the blazes.
- PUB DATE: 2/20/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CNN

Finding funds to ease strain on overworked paramedics in Nebraska is challenge, fire officials say

Despite putting a seventh city ambulance in service in mid-2018, Lincoln Fire and Rescue's paramedics remain swamped responding to emergency medical calls in the growing city, retiring Fire Chief Micheal Despain said. Call volumes in Lincoln continue climbing at three times the rate of population growth, mainly because of the medical needs of the city's aging population, Despain said.
- PUB DATE: 2/20/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Lincoln Journal Star

Proposal to create Pennsylvania Fire Commission garners tentative support from firefighters, with caveats

A Pennsylvania House committee is weighing a measure that seeks to make changes in how fire and emergency services are administered in the state. The House Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee took up House Bill 1819, which would create a state Fire Commission. State Rep. Austin Davis, D-McKeesport, the bill’s sponsor, said his district includes professional and volunteer-led fire departments that face issues regarding the ability to provide essential services and the ability to recruit and retain members.
- PUB DATE: 2/20/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Center Square

New York: Statewide effort aims to protect firefighters from cancer threats

Every day firefighters put their lives on the line to protect others, and when their shift ends, some of the risks they face still linger. That's because of the potentially toxic contaminants they encounter while on the job. "We want to make sure that the firefighters are aware that the chemicals, and the soot, and the smoke, and the particulates that get on their clothing during a structure fire, during training, is dangerous.
- PUB DATE: 2/20/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WGRZ-TV ABC 2 Buffalo

‘Certainly is a growing problem:’ Wisconsin fire department has new tool to fight bed bugs

Bed bugs can be hard to spot and even tougher to get rid of. The City of Waukesha Fire Department has a new tool to fight the problem -- and make sure every ambulance is clean. Kira Benkert is getting an ambulance ready for the day's first patient -- including making sure there aren't any unwanted passengers: bed bugs.
- PUB DATE: 2/20/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WITI-TV FOX 6 Milwaukee

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