Eight percent of first responders in Virginia had recent thoughts of suicide, according to a survey conducted by the Fairfax Coalition of Police. FCOP surveyed 26 different first responder agencies across the state of Virginia. For comparison, the estimated rate of suicidal thoughts among the general U.
- PUB DATE: 9/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WCYB-TV NBC 5

VIDEO: Firefighters with Pinellas Suncoast Fire Rescue have been spent the last week scrambling to get their finances in order after a payroll company made unauthorized withdrawals from their bank accounts. Some of the firefighters say their checking accounts were totally depleted, creating a slew of problems with bills, rent, and other payments due at the beginning of the month.
- PUB DATE: 9/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WFLA-TV NBC 8 Tampa

An arbitrator has determined the Lockport Fire Department's six man shifts are unsafe and is requiring the City of Lockport to restore minimum staffing levels of nine firefighters. In 2014, former Mayor Anne McCaffrey had dropped the fire department's ambulance service amid the city's financial distress and cut the department's minimum staffing levels from nine to six members per shift.
- PUB DATE: 9/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Lockport Union-Sun & Journal

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed legislation on September 11 to help ensure first responders and public sector officers and employees who developed a qualifying health condition as a result of their heroic response to 9/11 rescue, recovery and clean-up efforts at World Trade Center sites receive the pension and health benefits they deserve.
- PUB DATE: 9/12/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The National Herald

Greensboro firefighters could find out what toxins they’re being exposed to just by wearing wristbands. Greensboro, Raleigh and Durham fire departments are partnering with the Duke Cancer Institute for a study analyzing chemicals that could put firefighters at risk for cancer. “I've been very involved in training firefighters my whole career and I've been exposed to a lot of different things and it's really crossed my mind an awful lot,” Greensboro Fire Department Assistant Chief over Health & Safety Alex Gossett said.
- PUB DATE: 9/12/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WGHP-TV Fox 8 Greensboro

More first responders in the US lose their lives to suicide than in the line of duty, according to a study by the Ruderman Foundation. In Chicago, a little known treatment for depression and PTSD is rescuing first responders desperate to find help for themselves. The treatment almost looks like hypnosis, but the patient is entirely awake and able to tap into traumatic memories like never before.
- PUB DATE: 9/12/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WFLD-TV FOX 32 Chicago

A state lawmaker has proposed legislation that would require Ohio fire departments to stop training with foam believed to cause health problems. The foam would still be used for extinguishing fires when necessary. But Rep. Brian Baldridge, R-Winchester, says it’s time to stop needlessly exposing firefighters to the group of chemicals called PFAS.
- PUB DATE: 9/12/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Dayton Daily News

For the first time since pay raises were re-instituted for city employees two years ago after nearly a decade without them, not everyone will be given the same hike to base pay in 2020. An agreement with the members of Richmond Professional Firefighters Inc. Local 1408, the union that represents the city's firefighters, calls for a pay raise of 5% next year while the proposed 2020 budget includes a 2% increase for all city employees who aren't part of a bargaining unit.
- PUB DATE: 9/12/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Palladium-Item

A firefighter who died on September 11 was laid to rest Tuesday after his remains were identified 18 years later. Firefighters and loved ones gathered to mourn Michael Haub after his remains were conclusively identified, the Uniformed Firefighters Association said in a statement. It said the service was to provide his family with closure and a peace of mind after the medical examiner last week identified more of his remains that were recovered at Ground Zero.
- PUB DATE: 9/11/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CNN

The Crisis Center of Tampa Bay is teaming with the advertising agency ChappellRoberts on a new initiative called “First to Respond, Last to Ask for Help.” The program, which promotes suicide awareness for Tampa Bay’s first responders, was announced during a Tuesday conference. The campaign includes a video which addresses the importance of reaching out and talking with health care professionals.
- PUB DATE: 9/11/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WGCU Public Broadcasting Fort Myers

Outside of professional athletes, first responders may just be the most often injured while on the job and like athletes, they often face a grueling rehab process. The training regimen at Results Sports Institute in Sacramento is specifically designed to help firefighters who have suffered injuries on duty and get them ready for the grueling challenges they will face when they return to work.
- PUB DATE: 9/11/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTXL-TV FOX 40 Sacramento

For students from elementary to high school, the Sept. 11 terrorist attack isn't a memory. It's history. A new HBO documentary that debuts on the event's 18th anniversary treats it that way. The necessity of her project, "What Happened on September 11," struck filmmaker Amy Schatz when a third grade girl told her about a playdate where she and a friend Googled "Sept.
- PUB DATE: 9/11/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: ABC News

Wildfire smoke has been an unwelcome guest in Puget Sound the past two summers, with acrid, yellow smoke polluting the air and clogging lungs. Warnings about the health risks have been issued. Seattle is setting up filtered air "breathing rooms." Mayor Jenny Durkan has declared that Seattle be "Smoke Ready" as residents are told to expect more smoke, more frequently as the climate warms and Northwest summers get hotter and drier.
- PUB DATE: 9/11/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Crosscut

As the first woman to lead the Kansas City Fire Department, Donna Maize doesn’t shy away from being a role model and an inspiration to girls and young women who may consider a career like hers. “They will be able to see that from a young age, and realize that just like a police officer or any other nontraditional female role that there are people out there that look like them,” Maize said Monday on her first day as fire chief.
- PUB DATE: 9/10/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Kansas City Star

Ahead of the 18th anniversary of 9/11, the head of the city’s firefighters’ union asked Americans to “Take a moment. Think about it. Say a prayer. “Just remember what happened that day. Remember how we felt and remember how far we’ve come since,” Uniformed Firefighters Association President Gerard Fitzgerald said Monday.
- PUB DATE: 9/10/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Daily News

Dr Emil Chynn says he was walking his dogs through New York when he saw the Twin Towers burning on September 11, 2001, prompting him to put his rollerblades on and rush to see what was going on. Nearly 3,000 people died in the terror attack, in which aeroplanes were hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon outside Washington, DC, and another crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
- PUB DATE: 9/10/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: UNILAD

Fire departments across the country set benchmarks for how long it takes to respond to fires, car crashes and other incidents to track progress and hold themselves accountable, but King William County Fire Chief Laura Nunnally said setting a response time goal for the county’s fire department is not realistic -- yet.
- PUB DATE: 9/10/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Virginia Gazette

The Secaucus Fire Department, in Hudson County, N.J., placed a 28-foot Lake Assault Boats firefighting and rescue craft into service earlier this summer. The department’s firefighting and emergency response area includes a large portion of the Hackensack and Passaic Rivers (and their 28 bridges) that empty into Newark Bay and the Hudson River.
- PUB DATE: 9/10/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Marine Log

The children of FDNY firefighters who perished on 9/11 are blossoming into a new generation of Bravest. On the eve of the 18th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, the current FDNY Academy class, set to graduate in two weeks, includes 13 members — 12 men and one woman — whose firefighter fathers were murdered on 9/11, The Post has learned.
- PUB DATE: 9/9/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Post

VIDEO: A Northeast Mississippi fire department is hoping to douse the competition as they run for the top spot on a CBS show. When the Booneville Fire Department completed the lip sync challenge one year ago, they knew they had a great video, but they didn’t realize it would have a national audience.
- PUB DATE: 9/9/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WCBI-TV CBS 6 Columbus