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

Firefighters utilizing the new Medford Fire-Rescue training facility at 2208 Table Rock Road will never get too familiar with the building’s interior, even if they use it hundreds of times. That’s because training officials can modify the 3,000-square-foot, three-story building with movable walls and completely transform the environment, making for a variety of residential dwellings.
- PUB DATE: 8/15/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Mail Tribune - Metered Site

Columbia-Richland County fire trucks are now fully staffed after the firefighters union claimed that short staffing was putting firefighters and some neighborhoods in danger. Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins confirmed the trucks now are fully staffed, and he hasn’t yet needed to cut in other areas. “We’re going to leave it like this and then reevaluate,” he said.
- PUB DATE: 8/15/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The State

VIDEO: A C-130 nicknamed Zeus will be in San Diego County throughout the month of August, training Ramona-based pilots who normally fly CalFire's workhorse S-2 tankers. The pilots are training to fly the much bigger aircraft that will eventually join Cal Fire's fleet. The first thing you notice about the C-130 is that it's huge.
- PUB DATE: 8/15/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KNSD-TV NBC 7 San Diego

There’s a bipartisan push in Congress to change the work schedules for Federal Firefighters. Local Representatives Elaine Luria, Robert Wittman, Donald McEachin, and Bobby Scott signed a letter led by Representative Mary Gay Scanlon in support of federal firehouses adopting an alternative work schedule.
- PUB DATE: 8/15/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WVEC-TV ABC 13 Hampton

The FDNY confirmed Tuesday that one of its lieutenants died early Saturday morning of a heart attack after a 24-hour tour. "He was the heart of the firehouse, he always had a good word to say.""I was shocked. Brian was obviously in good shape, he was a strong guy," Thomas McHugh of Squad Company 41 said at a news conference.
- PUB DATE: 8/14/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Spectrum News NY1

The Toledo Fire & Rescue Department wants to enlist the help of a local minority-owned creative firm to increase diversity in its ranks, but some city councilmen aren’t sure they want to award the contract without first going to bid. Fire officials on Tuesday proposed contracting with Vince Rocha Productions LLC’s vCreative to produce a recruitment campaign for the department.
- PUB DATE: 8/14/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Toledo Blade

Despite pressure from a contingent of firefighters, the Aspen Fire Protection District Board declined Tuesday to begin formally looking into hiring paid firefighters. “If you ask for a hard decision now, the answer will be no to paid staffing,” board President Karl Adam said. “I am not willing to engage the public when I’m not sure where we’re going with this.
- PUB DATE: 8/14/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Aspen Times

The Houston Fire Department is trying to find a better way to allocate resources. They gave graduate students from Rice University data on emergency calls and asked them to identify trends. The students did an extensive analysis of 911 calls over the past several years and presented their findings Tuesday to Houston City Council.
- PUB DATE: 8/14/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KHOU-TV CBS 11 Houston