VIDEO: Texas first responders rode across the state for eight days honoring 14 first responders who died in the line of duty. Thirty-three riders participated in the Texas Brotherhood Ride which started in Hempstead, then on to Dallas and ended at the Texas Capitol. Houston firefighter Robb Hyatt said the goal was to honor first emergency responders and give emotional and financial support to their families.
- PUB DATE: 8/26/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTBC-TV Fox 7 Austin

Dominick and Alicia Rhodes have had blue tarps covering the roof of their Florida home and a firetruck in their front yard since Hurricane Michael devastated their rural inland county 10 months ago. The couple — who have three kids, maintain two full-time jobs and work as volunteer firefighters in their spare time — are now caretakers of one of the Mossy Pond Volunteer Fire Department fire engines because the firehouse where they once stored their trucks and equipment was obliterated by the storm.
- PUB DATE: 8/23/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NBC News

The Baltimore City Fire Department plans to cut down on the number of firefighters responding to initial calls, a move that isn’t sitting well with the firefighters’ union. Currently, five engines, two trucks, two battalion chiefs and a medic unit are dispatched when a call comes in. Come September, though, that number will shrink as the department tests reducing initial responding units to three engines, one truck and one battalion chief.
- PUB DATE: 8/23/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WJZ-TV CBS 13 Baltimore

On August 24th, 2009, the City of Buffalo lost two members of its fire department during a building fire. In the days that followed, firefighters from across the country came to Buffalo to honor Firefighter Jonathan Croom and Lieutenant Chip McCarthy. Members of the Washington, DC Fire Department's Pipes and Drums band played the funerals, and formed friendships with some of the Buffalo firefighters.
- PUB DATE: 8/23/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WKBW-TV ABC 7 Buffalo

A new club at Hempfield Area High School could help bridge the gap between a lack of volunteer firefighters and a younger workforce. The Public Services Club is headed by biology teacher, volunteer firefighter and paramedic Justin Heddinger. The organization will introduce students to careers like volunteer firefighting, police work, emergency management, EMS and 911 dispatchers.
- PUB DATE: 8/23/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: TribLIVE

After three consecutive and horrendous years of wildfires, there is an important shift going on this year in firefighting. Cal Fire, Contra Costa Fire, Orinda-Moraga Fire, East Bay Parks, East Bay MUD, Lawrence Berkeley Lab and many others mean to keep their hills firestorm free. As we've covered the enormous brush clearing project stretching 17 miles from Berkeley to Lafayette, we could not help but notice crews wearing gear that reads 'Firestorm'.
- PUB DATE: 8/23/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTVU-TV FOX 2 Oakland

City firefighters will be paid nearly $1 million in back pay connected to the five-year contract dispute with the city. City Comptroller James E. Mills said Wednesday that the payout for the retro pay and health benefit deductions will be “just a couple of thousand dollars short of $1 million.” The payouts — scheduled to go out on Aug.
- PUB DATE: 8/22/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Watertown Daily Times

“We have a duty to those who put their lives on the line daily,” states southeastchaplaincy.com, a newly formed service and website being stewarded by local Firefighter Chaplain Cole Massey to support first responders in Southeast Washington. “It is our desire to meet every call or need as it arises.
- PUB DATE: 8/22/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Walla Walla Union-Bulletin - Metered Site

When Mount Vesuvius erupted almost 2,000 years ago, it took hours for a single message from Pompeii to reach rescuers 18 miles away. Today we have the opposite problem during disasters: too much rapid information from many sources, with consequences just as fatal for some people. Engineers at the University of California, Riverside are working to change this with a tool that searches real-time text, photo and video from social media and surveillance cameras alongside data from sensors, like fire detectors and security alarms.
- PUB DATE: 8/22/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: UC Riverside News

Hunting season is set to begin this weekend and there is concern about hunters traveling near wildfires currently burning in the Willow area. Alaska Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Corri Feige said at a news conference Wednesday that officials are considering closing the Willow marsh, also called the Willow swamp.
- PUB DATE: 8/22/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTVA-TV CBS 11 Anchorage

West Texas’ oil boom is bringing prosperity to many organizations throughout the region, but for Odessa Fire Rescue, it’s turning up the heat. Staffing Odessa Fire Rescue has been a struggle since oil took over the city. To make up the difference, firefighters are burning the candle at both ends. First responders answer the call of duty every day to save Odessans who need their help.
- PUB DATE: 8/22/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOSA-TV CBS 7 Odessa

VIDEO: The Corpus Christi and surrounding areas are experiencing an industrial boom, with several new projects in the works. With that growth comes the need for response services tailored to handle industrial emergencies. The Refinery Terminal Fire Company, a global company, has branches which fill that need; but it does more than just fight fires.
- PUB DATE: 8/21/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KRIS-TV NBC 6 Corpus Christi

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