Drexel University scientist Jasmine Y. Wright was dedicated to helping first responders who are assaulted while trying to help others. Physical attacks on first responders are a felony in Pennsylvania. Yet justice, Philadelphia firefighters and medics have said, is hard-won. In 2015, Wright was leading a federally funded study to find out what was going wrong.
- PUB DATE: 8/21/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Philadelphia Inquirer

Almost four years after the Aliso Canyon gas leak broke out near Porter Ranch, the number of firefighters who have filed a lawsuit against Southern California Gas Co. over the 2015 gas leak continues to grow. In total, 55 Los Angeles firefighters who helped Porter Ranch residents after the 2015 blowout filed a lawsuit against the utility, alleging the utility knowingly exposed them to hazardous levels of toxins like benzene and formaldehyde, according to a complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.
- PUB DATE: 8/21/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Los Angeles Daily News - Metered Site

The Kansas City, Kansas, Fire Department is starting a program to recruit more paramedics amid a national shortage. KCKFD Assistant Fire Chief Morris Letcher told 41 Action News the department is short about 20 paramedics right now. "Firefighting is more than just firefighing," Letcher said. "We're an EMS-based service, so we have to keep up with the times.
- PUB DATE: 8/21/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KSHB-TV NBC 41 Kansas City

VIDEO: Those who struggle with opioid addiction in Chattanooga will soon have a new place to begin their journey to recovery - or, just get some immediate help. The Chattanooga Fire Department (CFD), along with Hamilton County Coalition’s Nu-Start program, has partnered to launch the “Safe Stations” initiative in Chattanooga.
- PUB DATE: 8/21/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTVC-TV ABC/FOX 9 Chattanooga

The Harrisburg-Carlisle area has the third-fewest occupational firefighters per capita of any metro region in the United States, according to a new ranking based on government data. The ranking developed by security information website ASecureLife compared 2018 census population data and federal employment statistics.
- PUB DATE: 8/20/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Sentinel

If you live outside the City of Batavia in Genesee County, the ability of volunteer fire companies to get enough able-bodied manpower to your house in a timely manner if it ever caught on fire is reaching a crisis stage, Tim Yaeger, emergency management coordinator told members of the County Legislature today.
- PUB DATE: 8/20/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Batavian

On a Thursday afternoon, a rain storm drenched the mountains surrounding the Allenspark Fire Protection District’s Station No. 1 off of Colo. 7. As water tapped against the roof, Stephen Coles , vice president of the Allenspark Fire Protection District , gathered with staff around a table with a stack of papers at the ready.
- PUB DATE: 8/20/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Times-Call

VIDEO: An aircraft nearly 50-years-old is being restored to help fight wildfires in Washington state. The Department of Natural Resources is using $1.1 million from the state's budget to bring the Huey helicopter back to life. The helicopter was first built in 1970 and used in Vietnam. The DNR already has nine former Hueys in their fleet to drop water on fires across the state.
- PUB DATE: 8/20/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KING-TV NBC 5 Seattle

The city of Decatur says it's time to hold first responders who don't arrive to an emergency in a timely manner responsible. They say it's been a problem for years. The First Response Ambulance Service must arrive to city calls within minutes. If they don't, they'll pay a hefty fine. Decatur Fire and Rescue Chief Anthony Grande and his team work directly with the city ambulance services.
- PUB DATE: 8/20/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WAAY-TV ABC 31 Huntsville

Firefighters discovered a man trying to ignite more fires as they were dousing flames he had already started inside a business Saturday night. “This was a first for us” says Longmont Chief of Fire Jerrod Vanlandingham. “You don’t typically expect to encounter an arsonist lighting fires at the time you are trying to extinguish them.
- PUB DATE: 8/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KCNC-TV CBS 4 Denver

A special act of the state Legislature will allow the town’s fire chief to stay on the job past his mandatory retirement date next spring. The act, approved by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Charlie Baker last Friday, allows Fire Chief Ed Bradley to work until his 67th birthday in April 2022.
- PUB DATE: 8/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Wicked Local Plymouth

Retired NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., his family and two pilots survived a fiery plane crash Thursday after a hard landing at a Tennessee airport. First responders arrived at the scene to help — and this weekend NASCAR thanked them for taking care of one of its legends with free tickets to the races.
- PUB DATE: 8/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CBS News

Licking County fire officials offer varied reasons for the changing landscape of fire service nationwide. But the general consensus is that the volunteer firefighter is "a dying breed." While no organizations specifically track the number of strictly volunteer firefighters in Licking County, the Ohio Fire Marshal's Office tracks statewide numbers.
- PUB DATE: 8/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Newark Advocate

Despite a protest from the fire department’s union, city officials opened a discussion about shuttering the Montclair station and slashing two firefighter/paramedic positions. During Thursday’s public safety committee meeting, Rodney Hall, president of Edwardsville Fire Fighters’ Local 1700 spoke against the notion.
- PUB DATE: 8/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Illinois Intelligencer

The Sacramento city firefighters union has gone public with its frustration over contract talks that are at a near impasse. The contract expired eight months ago and the union says the city wants to eliminate or reduce health care and benefits for current and retired firefighters. “It’s disheartening, that’s really what it is,” said union spokesperson Roberto Padilla.
- PUB DATE: 8/16/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTXL-TV FOX 40 Sacramento

The risk for firefighters is far greater than you might think. That risk may not be seen until years after the fire is out. The loss of one of their brothers to work-related cancer is just one of the reasons the Durham Fire Department is trying to change that. “There are a lot more chemicals being given off during the fires that what we saw 15 or 20 years ago when things were more natural fibers so it’s just a lot dirtier fire that’s become a leading exposure to a lot more chemicals that we never saw in the past,” said Battalion Chief Wayne Cheek.
- PUB DATE: 8/16/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WNCN-TV CBS 17 Raleigh

There's a travelling effort to honor first responders in El Paso in the wake of the mass shooting which killed 22 people. A pair of flags are going to be making their way through Texas and are being signed by first responders. Floresville is just the first stop of a statewide tour where two different Texas flags will be getting signatures.
- PUB DATE: 8/16/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KABB-TV FOX 29 San Antonio

Kaden Kummala turns 5 at the end of August, but he’s not asking for presents. “I just want people to give me money so I can give it to the firefighters,” he told his dad. With help from his parents, Kyle and Katie Kummala, the Ramsey 4-year-old is raising funds for the Anoka-Champlin Fire Department.
- PUB DATE: 8/16/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Hometown Source - Metered Site

In 1894, the Village of Monroe was incorporated within the Town of Monroe for a very practical reason – the residents needed a local fire department. A town could not form a fire district of its own. Only a village could do that. As a result, Monroe residents had to rely on fire fighters from Goshen to travel 12 miles, sometimes by train, to battle their blazes.
- PUB DATE: 8/16/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Photo News

In the midst of a serious heatwave, many Houston firefighters have had to operate out of trucks that lack air conditioning. This has prompted the firefighters union to demand the city repair its aging fleet, the Houston Chronicle reported. Marty Lancton, president of the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association, told Mayor Sylvester Turner in a letter this week to “dispense with the excuses and political rhetoric about what can or cannot be done.
- PUB DATE: 8/15/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Texas Monitor