A public service announcement that spotlights the shortage of volunteer firefighters in Connecticut is up for an Emmy award. Shot by professional cinematographer and Hebron volunteer firefighter Matthew Troy, “See You Out There” features 85 volunteers from 16 departments across the state. The regional Emmy awards are to be presented on June 15 in Boston.
- PUB DATE: 5/3/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Hartford Courant

VIDEO: A strong wind gust thrust a bounce house-type inflatable into the air Wednesday, injuring five Washington state high school students, officials said. The inflatable went airborne at about 2:30 p.m. during an Associated student body event at Zillah High School, outside of Yakima, according to a statement from the school.
- PUB DATE: 5/3/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NBC News

Eight firefighters and a police officer were injured at a solar energy storage facility in the aptly named town of Surprise, Arizona last month when they answered a call to inspect an energy storage system (ESS) fire. The situation quickly took a turn for the worse when an explosion blew the container’s doors off.
- PUB DATE: 5/3/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1.com

Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. plans to set up a $105 million fund to help survivors of recent California wildfires likely started by the utility's equipment, according to a court filing Wednesday. PG&E's "wildfire assistance program" would provide relief for people who lost property during huge blazes in 2017 and 2018, said the filing in U.
- PUB DATE: 5/3/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NBC Bay Area

The San Francisco Giants honored Joanne Hayes-White, the city's first female fire chief, on Wednesday during her last official public appearance before she retires. She threw out the ceremonial first pitch during a Giants-Dodgers game. Hayes-White served for 30 years with the department. "It's pretty surreal right now.
- PUB DATE: 5/2/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTVU Fox 2

Orange County’s newest fire station, its first in the booming Horizon West community near Disney, means more money in Joan Sullens’ pocket. The Horizon West resident now qualifies for a premium-reducing, fire-protection discount on her homeowners insurance policy because firefighting crews are much closer.
- PUB DATE: 5/2/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Orlando Sentinel

A new law designed to make volunteer service more attractive to retired firefighters will help rural fire departments across the state, Byng Fire Department Chief Chris McGill said Tuesday. “We’ve had a recent decline in volunteers and people wiling to volunteer, and that will assist these little departments that have retired paid personnel in their fire districts that are willing to volunteer,” he said.
- PUB DATE: 5/2/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Stillwater News Press

Most of the country can expect a normal wildfire season but residents along the West Coast of the United States should be ready for another busy season, the National Interagency Fire Center said Wednesday. California experienced its deadliest and largest wildfires in the past two years, including a fire in the northern part of the state last year that destroyed the town of Paradise, killing more than 80 people.
- PUB DATE: 5/2/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fox News

Legislation designating nine types of cancer as on-the-job injuries for firefighters cleared a House committee Tuesday despite opposition from a powerful lobbying group. Statistically, firefighters are at a higher risk than the general public for esophageal, intestinal, rectal, testicular, brain and oral cavity cancers, as well as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, multiple myeloma and mesothelioma.
- PUB DATE: 5/2/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WRAL.com

Six days after Houston City Council approved 220 firefighter layoffs, Fire Chief Sam Peña followed through telling the department's newest hires in an emailed letter, "I am sorry to have to notify you that your position is being eliminated..." Peña explained the layoffs, telling firefighters, "The City of Houston has experienced a sizeable budget shortfall due to the implementation of Prop B.
- PUB DATE: 5/1/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: ABC 13 News

Stephen Carr, president of the York Village Fire Department corporation, laid out the typical scenario for a volunteer firefighter at the York Village or York Beach departments. “The pager goes off. You could be at work, so you’re leaving work and not getting paid while you respond,” he said. “You get in your vehicle, using your own gasoline.
- PUB DATE: 5/1/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Bangor Daily News

After weathering six judges, a long preliminary hearing, a botched plea deal, countless legal motions and no shortage of emotional courtroom drama, the trial of two men held responsible for the deaths of 36 people in the Ghost Ship warehouse fire 2 1/2 years ago finally begins Tuesday. Prosecutors are scheduled to deliver opening statements laying out their case against Derick Almena, 49, and Max Harris, 29, who are charged with 36 counts each of involuntary manslaughter stemming from the Dec.
- PUB DATE: 5/1/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: East Bay Times

Negotiators for the city and the executive board of Warwick’s firefighters union have reached agreement on a proposed union contract that would bolster the city’s financial position, Mayor Joseph J. Solomon said Tuesday. The proposed contract, which remains subject to ratification votes by the union’s membership and by Warwick’s City Council, would incorporate pension language already written into the city’s ordinances, said Solomon.
- PUB DATE: 5/1/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Providence Journal

State lawmakers are working to curb and document the use of contaminated firefighting foam with a trio of bills. Fire chiefs who use firefighting foam that contained per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances would be required to report its usage within 48 hours, including details on the location, quantity used, nearby waterways and cleanup efforts.
- PUB DATE: 5/1/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Detroit News

A decorated Navy SEAL was rejected by the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) because he was too old, multiple reports say. According to the "New York Post," 37-year-old Special Operations Chief Shaun Donovan was told by FDNY he's six months and 25 days too old to join the department. Donovan passed the written exam for firefighters, scoring in the top 1 percent of nearly 44,000 candidates and passed the physical test.
- PUB DATE: 4/30/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: ABC 10 News

You’ve seen police body-camera video, but now we’re seeing similar videos from firefighters. The new videos are changing the way departments train their crews. “Kind of like what sports athletes do. They’re watching batting practicing or watching another football team. We’re doing the same thing. We’re reevaluating and seeing how we can get better,” Captain JD Flint, with Metro Fire of Sacramento, said.
- PUB DATE: 4/30/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CBS 13 Sacramento

Efforts are under way nationally to get communications officers, aka dispatchers, proper recognition for what they do. Rep. Norma J. Torres' House Resolution 1629, called the 911 Supporting Accurate Views of Emergency Services (SAVES) Act, seeks to reclassify communications officers nationally from a non-protective service occupation to a protective one in the Standard Occupational Classification system, giving dispatchers recognition as first responders.
- PUB DATE: 4/30/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Norman Transcript

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standards Council approved a plan to consolidate the information currently contained in 114 NFPA Emergency Response and Responder Safety (ERRS) standards, guides, and recommended practices into 38 overarching standards. The move will not only provide emergency responders with easier access to well-rounded safety information, but also improve the standards development experience for more than 2,000 principle and alternative NFPA Technical Committee Members.
- PUB DATE: 4/30/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NFPA.org

In a move West Shore Fire Department Commission Chairman Robert Bruneau called “phenomenal” and “unheard of,” the firefighters union in that district unanimously agreed to defer a contractual raise for two years to ease the burden on taxpayers. “I think it’s big,” Bruneau said. “I think they want to do what’s best for the district.
- PUB DATE: 4/30/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New Haven Register

Four people were killed when a crane collapsed Saturday afternoon, falling onto traffic in downtown Seattle. The Seattle Fire Department said one woman and three men were dead before the first firefighters arrived at the scene. Two of the people killed were ironworkers working on the crane and the other two were inside vehicles.
- PUB DATE: 4/29/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KING 5 News