It’s a slice of small-town America that’s disappearing across the country. Just like the mom-and-pop hardware store, the volunteer fire department is being replaced with big-city professional departments.
In the Florida Keys, only two all-volunteer departments have managed to hang on, along with volunteers serving on paid departments. - PUB DATE: 11/21/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Miami Herald
Two former city firefighters, both African Americans, have filed a lawsuit against the city, claiming they were the victims of racial discrimination, retaliation and a hostile work environment, especially under the leadership of retired Fire Chief Joseph Dooley.
The 15-page lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Superior Court in Union County, charges that Joseph Braxton and Mark Bullock were subjected to "racial comments and jokes" daily. - PUB DATE: 11/21/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: My Central Jersey
Kansas City’s interim fire chief, Donna Maize, will become the first woman to lead the department, the city announced in a press release Wednesday.
Maize, who was serving in City Manager Troy Schulte’s office, took the helm as interim chief in September when Gary Reese stepped down. Schulte on Wednesday appointed her to the permanent position, which she had indicated previously that she didn’t plan on pursuing. - PUB DATE: 11/21/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Kansas City Star
Lloyd Musick was driving south on Route 309 in Lynn Township on Tuesday night when he came upon an overturned truck that had just been in a crash. He stopped his vehicle and joined two others to help out the victims in the wreck, authorities said.
Musick didn’t know the people involved in the 5:30 p. - PUB DATE: 11/21/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Morning Call
The sign on the door at Firehouse 7 says it all: “THIS PROPERTY CLOSED BY ORDER OF THE BOARD OF HEALTH.”
Asbestos was detected on open surfaces inside the North Plymouth station, prompting the site to be locked down until further notice.
Both the town manager and the Board of Health both issued declarations ordering Firehouse 7 closed. - PUB DATE: 11/21/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Plymouth Wicked Local
No one knows how many firefighters have been diagnosed with cancer in the country, let alone the state or Dutchess County.
In the past five years, officials from the state to firemen associations, have recognized the prevalence of the cancer risk that career and volunteer firefighters face. And different organizations are taking steps to quantify the problem. - PUB DATE: 11/20/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Poughkeepsie Journal
The public safety sector—including fire service, law enforcement, EMS and corrections—has made significant gains in raising awareness around suicide among first responders. But did you know that sometimes the very messages used to promote awareness can cause harm and undermine suicide prevention efforts?
Fortunately, there is a safe way to talk about suicide. - PUB DATE: 11/20/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1.com
The Lewiston Fire Department’s new Engine 3, a Pierce Ascendant with aerial ladder, is an impressive beast no matter how you look at it. But the rig cost the city nearly $1 million dollars and there are people who want to know how this truck is better than the old one, which lasted the city 22 years. - PUB DATE: 11/20/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Sun Journal
All members of the Medical Control Board voted to start testing a pilot program that would allow Charlotte firefighters to leave the scene of a call if the patient is OK and MEDIC is already on its way.
"You call 911 and you're going to get a red truck coming pretty fast in a short time frame,” said CFD Chief Reginald Johnson. - PUB DATE: 11/20/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WSOC-TV
No one was injured Monday night as Paterson firefighters battled a structure fire on Rosa Parks Boulevard that spread to an adjacent building.
The fire was broadcast live on national television as part of a three-hour version of A&E's "Live Rescue."
Paterson Fire Chief Brian McDermott told TV viewers, "We had a pretty advanced fire on arrival. - PUB DATE: 11/20/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Northjersey.com
It was the beginning of a hero’s sendoff.
Worcester fire officials promised Tina Menard and her three children a hero’s sendoff for Lt. Jason Menard. It’s a promise no fire department wants to fulfill, and one Worcester firefighters have had to deliver eight other times in the last 20 years. Firefighters, police officers and paramedics from across Massachusetts lined up outside Mercadante Funeral Home in Worcester on Sunday afternoon, paying their respects to Menard, who was killed in a four-alarm fire early Wednesday morning at 7 Stockholm St. - PUB DATE: 11/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Masslive.com
The firehouse on Foulkrod and Darrah streets in Philadelphia's Frankford section has been without its engine for a decade, leaving some neighbors feeling vulnerable.
"Because of all the families that are around here, all the people around here, they need the engine to save lives," said Sylvia Pickens, who lives across the street from the firehouse. - PUB DATE: 11/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WPVI-TV ABC 6 Philadelphia
A recent report on the Durham Fire Department’s response to the April 10 gas explosion downtown could bolster the department’s request for 75 more firefighters.
The Fire Department has about 385 people who fight fires. Having more would improve response times and on-scene efficiency, reducing injuries and property loss, according to a presentation the department gave the city in March, about a month before the explosion. - PUB DATE: 11/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The News & Observer
Corporations can be held legally responsible for the state’s costs in investigating and fighting fires that are carelessly started or spread by corporate employees, a state appeals court ruled Monday.
There has been no dispute that corporations can be required to pay compensation for deaths, injuries and property damage from fires caused by their employees, the source of at least $18 billion of the debt that drove Pacific Gas and Electric Co. - PUB DATE: 11/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle - Metered Site
Capt. Shawn Campana needed an escape. The stress and pressures of working in Miami-Dade Fire Rescue were beginning to weigh on her.
Enter Charlie, a 3-year-old Greyhound she adopted in 2015.
“There’s light again,” Campana said of Charlie, “and there hasn’t been in some time. He was the only thing that made that happen. - PUB DATE: 11/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Miami Herald
VIDEO: The Fairbanks International Airport Police and Fire Department is unique in that their employees are 'cross trained' -- meaning every police officer is a firefighter, and every firefighter is a police officer.
"We are both a police and fire department, along as EMS as well. So we are a true public safety, kind of all hazards approach,” Chief Aaron Danielson said. - PUB DATE: 11/18/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Webcenter 11
The City of Cleveland Fire Department has been charged with discrimination by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after an investigation uncovered evidence that it discriminated against black, Hispanic and female applicants, violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The U.S. EEOC determined that since at least 2009, the Cleveland Fire Department has displayed a pattern of failing or refusing to hire and promote black, Hispanic and female applicants through the use of discriminatory hiring tests and procedures. - PUB DATE: 11/18/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WEWS-TV ABC 5 Cleveland
VIDEO: The victim of a car fire punched two firefighters because he thought they were taking too long to put out the fire.
The incident happened near the intersection of Shreve and Natural Bridge Friday evening.
Firefighters said they were trying to put the fire out when the car's owner thought they were working too slowly, so he started punching two of them. - PUB DATE: 11/18/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KMOV-TV CBS 4 St. Louis
The local fire union wants to know why a multi-million dollar surplus, found by Metro government from last year's budget, can't be used to reverse cuts made this year.
The city found an extra $4 million in an audit of the last fiscal year, which ended this past June. Now, it’s up to Metro Council to decide where that money will go. - PUB DATE: 11/18/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WAV-TV NBC 3 Louisville
VIDEO: Roanoke’s Fire Station 7 was recently demolished after nearly a century of serving Grandin Village, but people got to take a piece of its history home for free this weekend.
Roanoke Fire EMS gave away more than 1,000 bricks salvaged from the historic structure, which had stood since 1922. The fire department tore down the firehouse to make way for a new, larger fire station on the same site. - PUB DATE: 11/18/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WSLS-TV NBC 10 Roanoke
