The city has sent pink slips to 68 Houston Fire Department cadets, the first documented layoffs resulting from Mayor Sylvester Turner’s plan to implement Proposition B. The trainees will remain employed through June 7, according to a copy of the layoff notice sent to cadets. “The City of Houston has experienced a sizeable budget shortfall due to the implementation of Prop B,” the layoff notices read, referring to the charter admendent passed by voters last November.
- PUB DATE: 4/5/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle

Sonoma County’s newest fire district is making its debut Thursday, combining four agencies into one large district circling Santa Rosa, and spanning from Windsor to the Napa County line. The Sonoma County Fire District, run by Chief Mark Heine, becomes the county’s second largest in territory and population and the second busiest, behind Santa Rosa Fire in both cases.
- PUB DATE: 4/5/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Santa Rosa Press Democrat

A Denver firefighter suspected of surreptitiously recording images of a female colleague has left the department and the alleged incident is being investigated by police. The firefighter suspected of invading his co-worker’s privacy was placed on leave when the allegations came to light, pending an internal investigation, but he retired the following day, said Capt.
- PUB DATE: 4/5/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Denver Post

When there’s no one else to help, firefighters are the people who answer the call. “Water’s pouring into your basement, water’s pouring out of your ceiling, something’s smoky, something’s on fire, you saw a spark, you don’t know what to do, they call us,” said firefighter John Callahan. “We’re not only firefighters.
- PUB DATE: 4/5/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: MassLive

VIDEO: Twenty-three people — including 19 firefighters — suffered non-life threatening injuries after a fire tore through an apartment building in Brooklyn, the FDNY said. The six-alarm fire broke out on the top floor of a six-story building at the corner of 44th Street and Seventh Avenue in Sunset Park on Wednesday afternoon, according to the department.
- PUB DATE: 4/4/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NBC New York

VIDEO: The Jefferson Parish fireman who almost lost his life battling a condo fire in Metairie two months ago visited his fellow firefighters in his unit for the first time Monday. For many days, it was unclear if fireman Danny Zeigler was going to make it past his injuries. He fell through the roof of the third floor of a burning Old Metairie condominium building in February.
- PUB DATE: 4/4/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WWL-TV.com

VIDEO: Adrian Trujillo became the first person of a Hispanic background to join the Belvidere Fire Department last week. "I think it's awesome," he said. Trujillo is a Probationary Firefighter with the Belvidere Fire Department. "I love being a part of that history. It amazes me. I know, growing up, I never saw [Hispanic representation].
- PUB DATE: 4/4/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: MyStateLine.com

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed legislation Tuesday aimed at guaranteeing medical coverage for firefighters who endure post-traumatic stress disorder triggered by their work. The measure, House Bill 324, adds PTSD to the list of conditions presumed to have been caused by their jobs as firefighters and requiring employers to provide medical treatment for it.
- PUB DATE: 4/4/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Albuquerque Journal

You can now text 911 in Broward County in an emergency. Broward leaders announced on Tuesday that anyone who can’t call in an emergency can now send a message to request police, fire or medical assistance. But county officials, including Broward Mayor Mark Bogen, Commissioner Michael Udine and Broward sheriff’s Col.
- PUB DATE: 4/4/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Miami Herald

In the next few years, overburdened Portland fire stations may shift focus from responding to each service call to setting up a direct line with parties better suited to handle a caller’s emergency. Connecting someone with a social worker or mental health professional instead of a firefighter could help reduce the Portland Fire and Rescue Bureau’s tremendous volume of service calls.
- PUB DATE: 4/3/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Portland State University

A Suffolk Superior Court judge has denied the town’s motion to stay Brookline firefighter Gerald Alston’s reinstatement after the state’s Civil Service Commission ruled in February that he was unjustly fired. The case dates back almost a decade, when a Brookline Fire Department lieutenant left a voicemail for Alston and used the “n-word.
- PUB DATE: 4/3/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Brookline TAB - Wicked Local Brookline

Gov. Ron DeSantis and members of the state cabinet gathered Tuesday morning at the state capitol for the annual “Ringing the Bell” ceremony to honor fallen firefighters in the state. Two new names were added to the Firefighter Memorial Monument in the capitol courtyard, representing Florida firefighters who died in 2018.
- PUB DATE: 4/3/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WWSB ABC 7

The tornadoes that tore through parts of Shiawassee County on March 14 left a trail of destruction 18 miles long. Now Governor Gretchen Whitmer has turned down the county's request for a State Declaration of Emergency and disaster relief. The two tornadoes damaged 136 structures including 94 homes, 4 businesses, 16 barns, and 22 RV's.
- PUB DATE: 4/3/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WLNS.com

Firefighters train weekly to maintain readiness, so when the call comes to put their lives at risk for the people they serve, they are prepared. Whether in training or on a live fire, they are susceptible to various carcinogenic toxins - until now. To help reduce the inhalation of toxins, more and more fire departments are purchasing virtual reality equipment to provide a safer way to train their members.
- PUB DATE: 4/3/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Schriever Air Force Base

Two dozen city workers have finally been granted unlimited sick leave as they fight the illnesses linked to their time at Ground Zero — as critics hammer Mayor de Blasio for doling out the much-needed help on a chaotic, piecemeal basis, the Daily News has learned. The added sick leave coverage comes six months after de Blasio approved the special sick leave for DC37, one of the city’s largest unions — vowing the agreement would form the basis for additional pacts with unions whose workers suffer with a 9/11 illness.
- PUB DATE: 4/2/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Daily News

In a quiet but dramatic change, the Anchorage Fire Department plans to shift staffing next month to adapt to an ever-rising demand for emergency medical responses. Managers recently reached an agreement with the city fire union, International Association of Fire Fighters Local 1264, to switch up staffing on fire rigs and ambulances.
- PUB DATE: 4/2/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Anchorage Daily News

Utah’s emergency communications may be on the brink of collapse, lending urgency to a planned massive system upgrade. But the project is on hold while two industry giants brawl over the taxpayer-funded contract for new two-way radios and equipment. Florida-based Harris Corp. won the contract with a bid of some $50 million — a price that the state says is $30 million below that of the losing bidder, Motorola.
- PUB DATE: 4/2/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Salt Lake Tribune

Inova Health System, Inova Trauma and Blood Donor Services, and the Northern Virginia EMS Council, in collaboration with the Fairfax County and Loudoun County Fire and Rescue Departments, have launched Field Available Component Transfusion Response (FACTR) to provide blood to entrapped trauma patients on the scene.
- PUB DATE: 4/2/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Loudoun Now

First, the good news: Fatal drug overdoses in Louisiana appeared to level off in 2018 after years of steady increases fueled by the nationwide opioid epidemic. Now, the bad news. Even though the number of overdoses stabilized, it plateaued at a historically high number. And it would take many years of steep reductions to bring the rate back to where it was before the opioid crisis began.
- PUB DATE: 4/2/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Baton Rouge Advocate

A West Haven firefighter/paramedic who was seriously injured only two days on the job 20 years ago has passed away. James Woodman was injured in October of 1999 when an ambulance he was riding in outside Yale-New Haven Hospital collided with a car. It was his last day on the job. Here is what the West Haven Fire Department Historical Library had to say about the firefighter's passing on its website: "It is with great sadness that we must share the news of James Woodman's passing.
- PUB DATE: 4/1/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: West Haven Patch