A nine-foot tree outside Fairfax County’s Public Safety Headquarters is not only celebrating the holidays but honoring those who served.
“The cumulative impact of stress from being a first responder starts to creep up on you,” said Fairfax County Police Chief Ed Roessler.
Two years ago, stress caught up with the Chief after some of his friends died in the line of duty and by suicide. - PUB DATE: 12/23/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WJLA-TV ABC 7
As the city continues to stay mum on the plan to encrypt tens of thousands of police radios in New York City, yet another group is expressing concerns that they will also be shut out of the NYPD feed — volunteer firefighters and ambulance companies.
Dozens of volunteer ambulance groups currently respond to help New Yorkers around the city, and they monitor police radios to provide assistance. - PUB DATE: 12/23/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: amNewYork
Mike Berthiaume, 31, a Franklin firefighter, was transferring a patient at the hospital when he suddenly felt pain in his knee.
The injury would cause him to miss work, his one true passion, for the next year.
“I basically just twisted my knee the wrong way, it was like a compression and twisting injury, and from there it just escalated,” said Berthiaume. - PUB DATE: 12/23/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Boston Herald - Metered Site
One community is getting into the holiday spirit in an unconventional way.
Grayson firefighters saw a video of a fireman in New York, dressed as Buddy the Elf, starting pillow fights with random people.
They said it looked like too much fun not to try themselves.
When people see the Clark Griswold car approaching blaring music from the National Lampoon Vacation films, it's only a harbinger of the surreal Christmas experience that's about to literally strike them. - PUB DATE: 12/23/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WSFA-TV NBC 12 Montgomery
Interstate 485 drivers caused a traffic jam while gawking at and videotaping an overturned car, emergency responders said in a lengthy rebuke on Twitter Saturday night.
“Please put your phones down and keep your eyes on the road,” Matthews Fire & EMS tweeted earlier in the day with two photos from the wreck scene, including one of an overturned car. - PUB DATE: 12/23/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Charlotte Observer
A Local Law introduced by Chairman Dan J. Reynolds and the Majority Legislators that shields and protects First Responders has been approved by the Broome County Legislature. At the Regular Legislative Session held on Thursday, December 19th, the Legislature approved the Emergency First Responders Protection Act of 2019. - PUB DATE: 12/20/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WICZ-TV FOX 40 Binghamton
The Cambria County Board of Commissioners on Thursday voted unanimously to approve a $16.9 million contract for upgrades to the county’s public safety radio system, a move designed to improve emergency responders’ ability to reliably communicate with each other and with 911 dispatchers.
Robbin Melnyk, Cambria County’s 911 coordinator, said during Thursday’s meeting of the Board of Commissioners that the “questionable” reliability of the county’s existing public radio system “is a safety risk to our responders. - PUB DATE: 12/20/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Johnstown Tribune-Democrat
VIDEO: When Paul Pietrafesa, a driver for Coral Springs-Parkland Fire Department was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, his wife Karen said she was glad he and their family had done everything they always wanted to do, and that they had lived every day like it was their last.
“Cancer doesn’t discriminate. - PUB DATE: 12/20/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Coral Springs Talks
The labor unions representing Paterson’s police officers and firefighters are accusing the city of violating their contracts by not issuing accrued leave time payments to employees who retired since July 1.
Administration officials said the city intends to make the payments eventually, but that checks have not yet been issued because of “a cash flow issue. - PUB DATE: 12/20/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NorthJersey.com - Metered Site
A North Bay man has written a song he hopes fire departments will adopt as an anthem. It's called "Smoke Soldiers," a three-minute rock ballad paying tribute to firefighters.
And on Wednesday night, four Santa Rosa restaurants threw their support behind David Benjamin Gruenbaum of Santa Rosa 's effort. - PUB DATE: 12/20/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTVU-TV FOX 2 Oakland
After vetting applicants as near as the Central Valley and as far off as Florida, the city of Visalia has selected a new fire chief: Daniel Griswold of Casper, Wyoming.
"Without exception, everyone that had an opportunity to meet and talk with Dan really seemed to find him engaging, personable and approachable," City Manager Randy Groom said. - PUB DATE: 12/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Visalia Times Delta - Metered Site
Christmas came early for the Willingboro Fire and EMS Department.
Township officials gathered Wednesday to cut the ribbon at the department’s brand new, over 30,000-square-feet fire station.
The milestone marks over a decade of the department working to get its members a new home.
“This is something that is a longtime coming and is well deserved. - PUB DATE: 12/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Burlington County Times
First responders, dispatchers, correction officers and their families in the Tri-State are getting new tools to take care of themselves and their coworkers. The Hamilton County Fire Chief's Association is launching a program to encourage the creation of peer support teams.
Colerain Township Battalion Chief Steve Conn says in 2018 members of the association recognized the need for some type of mental health program for firefighters. - PUB DATE: 12/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WVXU Cincinnati Public Radio
A Vernon Township firefighter found himself in the middle of his own medical emergency during a call last weekend.
Captain Anthony Karhoff was paged out for a carbon monoxide call Friday night.
"We started to investigate the situation by looking at the CO and smoke detectors in the house and I started feeling kind of uncomfortable, sick to my stomach and nauseous," Karhoff said. - PUB DATE: 12/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: ABC 12 News
Police are trying to sort out the circumstances surrounding a crash involving an Exeter Township Fire Department utility vehicle and a well-drilling truck.
The crash was reported shortly after 8 a.m. Wednesday on an icy stretch of Shelbourne Road, between Wingspread Drive and Rugby Road, in Exeter Township. - PUB DATE: 12/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WFMZ-TV 69 News
A Front Range fire chief and former firefighter has died from a rare form of cancer that’s believed to be job-related.
Troy Jackson worked with South Metro Fire Rescue for nearly 30 years. He passed away today after a six-year cancer battle.
Doctors diagnosed Jackson with adenoid cystic carcinoma in 2013. - PUB DATE: 12/18/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Colorado Public Radio
Mayor Anthony Copeland struck back Tuesday against the city council in their fight over who controls the city firefighters’ work schedule.
John Bushemi, the city council attorney, announced Tuesday night to the council’s public safety committee that the mayor is suing to keep in place a new swing shift he imposed this month on firefighters. - PUB DATE: 12/18/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Northwest Indiana Times (nwitimes.com)
Fire Chief Scott Burnette has said a captain's decision to respond to a 2012 medical call in a routine, nonemergency fashion did not delay life-saving efforts, despite accounts of two former firefighters who said the patient died but might have been saved with quicker action.
Burnette's Dec. 14 statement about the seven-year-old incident brought surprised reactions from a former Asheville Fire Department chief and an ex-captain of the station involved with the call, who said responding to a "difficulty breathing" call as a nonemergency was highly unusual and did not seem appropriate. - PUB DATE: 12/18/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Citizen-Times
The union representing Ashland firefighters is sounding the alarm on budget cuts that will affect Ashland Fire & Rescue's ability to respond to emergencies. According to Ashland Firefighters Local 1269, the agency will be running "harder with fewer resources" next year.
"Ashland Firefighters received some disappointing news this week, as the fallout from 2019’s budget cut continues to evolve," the union said in a Facebook post. - PUB DATE: 12/18/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KDRV ABC 12
Firefighters have long complained that a state law meant to assure their bills are paid when they get work-related cancers isn’t helping the way it should. And a state review says they’re right.
The law says that when firefighters get leukemia as well as breast, pancreatic, prostate, rectal and throat cancers, they should be presumed to be the result of their work. - PUB DATE: 12/18/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Daily Press
