They’re exhausted. We told you Monday night about the shortage at the federal fire department tasked with keeping Naval Station Great Lakes safe, and how that shortage is affecting surrounding communities. On Tuesday, CBS 2’s Tara Molina took concerns to our elected officials. She learned that members of Congress are also asking the Navy why the shortage, and the issues it is creating, are not being addressed.
- PUB DATE: 8/14/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WBBM-TV CBS 2 Chicago

Wildfire smoke from the Williams Flats fire, burning on the Colville Indian Reservation, triggered a thunderstorm Thursday, and for one of the only times ever, scientists were able to fly through its clouds, photograph the phenomenon from a jet and take measurements from inside. The phenomenon, called a pyrocumulonimbus or PyroCb, “is essentially a thunderstorm that is created or driven by a wildfire,” said David Peterson, a meteorologist with the Naval Research Laboratory, giddy after Thursday’s flight.
- PUB DATE: 8/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Daily World

An abandoned house on West 13th Street was the site of a fire department demonstration Saturday morning. Envisioning a cool summer night about 10 p.m., the demonstration stated that crews were called to a working structure fire at Reid Avenue and 13th Street. Firefighters were met on the scene by a young man who said his baby was asleep upstairs when the fire broke out in the kitchen at the back of the house.
- PUB DATE: 8/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Chronicle Telegram

ISO, a Verisk (Nasdaq:VRSK) business and leading provider of advanced tools and analytics for the property/casualty insurance industry, and Intterra, a leading provider of software for fire departments across the United States, are partnering with the Western Fire Chiefs Association (WFCA) to explore new ways of analyzing and understanding wildfire risk.
- PUB DATE: 8/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: InsuranceNewsNet

VIDEO: Three of the five youngsters killed in a Sunday-morning fire at a Pennsylvania day care center were the children of a volunteer firefighter who was responding to another call several blocks away. The firefighter, Luther Jones, was with the Lawrence Park Volunteer Fire Department handling other calls while the neighboring Erie Fire Department battled the deadly flames at the Harris Family Day Care.
- PUB DATE: 8/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fox News

Firefighters protect our forests and wildlands from destruction. They put their lives at risk to stop blazes before they threaten our communities. Apparel- and gear-maker Filson is celebrating their stories, and we share a few of them here in the series ‘Protectors of the Forest.’ Smokejumpers are specially trained wildland firefighters — and their training is grueling.
- PUB DATE: 8/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: GearJunkie

Smokey Bear, the recognizable mascot of wildfire prevention in the United States, turns 75 today. The U.S. Forest Service started the campaign in 1944 and used it to educate the American public on the dangers of forest fires. A live mascot, appropriately named Smokey, was added to the campaign in 1950.
- PUB DATE: 8/9/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: USA Today

An armed man reportedly wearing body armor and pushing a shopping cart at a Walmart store in Missouri on Thursday led a store manager to pull the fire alarm and sent customers fleeing -- but an armed off-duty firefighter was able to detain the man until police officers arrived, Springfield police said.
- PUB DATE: 8/9/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fox News

The thought of flight and the consuming power of fire has fascinated mankind for centuries. Who hasn’t looked up wondering what it would be like to soar among the clouds? Who hasn’t sat mesmerized, staring into a campfire? The translucent red flames reaching toward the sky somehow hold us captive. For a select few, fire and flight go hand in hand.
- PUB DATE: 8/9/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KCET

It's a day meant to be remembered forever in scrapbooks: the first day of kindergarten, when parents walk their child to class for the first time. But for one Phoenix family, it was a bittersweet first day of kindergarten, as one parent was missing. Phoenix firefighter Brian Beck, Jr., tragically lost his battle with occupational cancer in May of this year.
- PUB DATE: 8/9/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: AZFamily.com

The Bureau of Land Management Idaho Falls District has transferred surplus wildland fire engines and equipment to 34 fire programs— including two Rangeland Fire Protection Associations —across eastern Idaho. The transfers are part of BLM’s effort to respond to rural wildland fires by giving excess equipment and supplies to local fire departments and RFPAs.
- PUB DATE: 8/9/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Idaho State Journal

Prince George’s County Fire Chief (PGFD) Benjamin Barksdale announced his retirement on July 30 from the department effective Oct. 31, when current Chief Deputy Tiffany Green will take over as interim chief. Green’s new appointment will not become official until the county council confirms it, but her promotion marks the county’s first African American female chief and the continuation of an increasing trend in female fire chiefs in the state.
- PUB DATE: 8/8/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Prince George's Sentinel

Halle Roebuck was born in Paradise, California just moments before a raging fire approached the local Adventist Health Feather River Hospital. Immediately after her birth, the hospital’s patients were ordered to evacuate. Heather Roebuck, Halle’s mom, later said she was told “Grab your baby, we’ve got to go.
- PUB DATE: 8/8/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: IAFC.org

VIDEO: First responders make it their mission to save the lives of others. But the tragic death of a Tucson Fire captain has inspired the department to launch a campaign aimed at saving the lives of their own. Captain Glenn Fleck chewed tobacco on-and-off for years. Last year, he passed away from oral cancer.
- PUB DATE: 8/8/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KVOA-TV NBC 4 Tucson

When Durango firefighters and paramedics pass through the city, they are reminded of past calls, like echoes in time – a crash at that intersection, a bodily trauma call in that house, the loss of a loved one for that family. “It’s like going down Main Street being like, I’ve seen a dead person there,” said an engineer in the department, who asked not to be named to maintain his privacy.
- PUB DATE: 8/8/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Durango Herald

VIDEO: Concord firefighters welcome the final steps of a run that stepped off in California eight months ago. Nashua native Matty Gregg has not been back to New Hampshire in over a decade. His legs and an important mission helped carry him over 5,400 miles through 24 states and over 400 towns as he has raised over $100,000 for the Firefighter Cancer Support Network.
- PUB DATE: 8/8/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WMUR-TV ABC 9 Manchester

After seven years of demanding that their death and disability benefits be restored, San Diego City Firefighters finally had their voices heard after the City Council voted unanimously to bring the benefits back. The council made the decision less than five minutes after the firefighters arrived at City Hall and was met with a standing ovation.
- PUB DATE: 8/7/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KGYV NBC 10 San Diego

VIDEO: For firefighters, sometimes the blaze is only half the battle. "Regardless of who you are on the fire scene you get exposed to chemicals.” Over the past 3 years, Dr. Jeff Burgess, Associate Dean for Research and Professor at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, and Tucson Fire have researched ways to reduce cancer causing particles.
- PUB DATE: 8/7/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOLD-TV CBS 13 Tucson

A state Senate probe of New York's building codes zeroes in on two municipalities with terrible reputations: Mount Vernon, where a lone inspector handles the entire city, and Ramapo, where lax enforcement has led volunteer firefighters and the County of Rockland to step in. "The key takeaway from this investigation is that there has been a systematic failure to adequately prioritize code enforcement at all levels of government," said state Sen.
- PUB DATE: 8/7/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Journal News (LoHud.com)

The State of Montana will pay the volunteer firefighters that fought the North Hills Fire. Montana DNRC has hired the firefighters under their Emergency Firefighter (EFF) program. The volunteers will be paid for their hours spent fighting the fire from 12:00 p.m. on July 26 through 12:00 a.m. August 1.
- PUB DATE: 8/7/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTVH-TV NBC 12 Helena