Fires that start in Los Angeles' homeless encampments pose a serious safety threat because they often spread to nearby apartments, homes, businesses and other buildings. The map above, illustrating fires that started at homeless encampments in 2018, shows just how widespread the problem is in Los Angeles County.
- PUB DATE: 7/29/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KNBC-TV NBC 4 Los Angeles

PHOTOS: Flying Apache attack helicopters in Iraq and Afghanistan prepared Tim Cherwin for his current job. The foe might be different but sometimes it's just as dangerous battling forest fires in a twin-engine turboprop plane. War zones and forest fires in the western United States — which Cherwin has fought from the air for the past five years — offer similar challenges: mountainous terrain, low altitude flying, extreme heat, rapidly changing weather conditions and endangered lives.
- PUB DATE: 7/29/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

It was a monster of a fire that threatened a number of nearby structures and endangered the lives of scores of firefighters when flames consumed the R.S. Fought and Sons Feed Mill at Walnut and Railroad streets forty years ago. “The flames were going a hundred feet into the air,” Gene Cahn remembered during a recent interview at the borough’s firehouse.
- PUB DATE: 7/29/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Williamsport Sun-Gazette

The town’s fire department is changing up how it responds to emergencies. With the addition of an ambulance called “Aid 1” — also known as a QRU or quick response unit — the Twin Falls Fire Department is working toward implementing a tiered response approach similar to those used in larger cities, according to Fire Chief Les Kenworthy.
- PUB DATE: 7/29/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Times-News

Anne Arundel County fire officials battled a two-alarm house fire in Lothian late Thursday night. The State Fire Marshal's Office said 80 firefighters were called just after 8:30 p.m. to the 5500 block of Greenock Road. Video showed a large two-story, single-family home completely engulfed in flames.
- PUB DATE: 7/26/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WBAL-TV NBC 11 Baltimore

A story we've been watching closely all week is the fight between Youngstown's firefighter's union and the administration. The union has accused city leaders of swapping one safety issue for another. The fire chief stands behind his proposal. However, the issue was placed before the city's safety committee on Thursday and has now been forwarded on to council as a whole to weigh-in.
- PUB DATE: 7/26/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WFMJ-TV NBC/CW 21 Youngstown

VIDEO: Health department workers say finding syringes on the ground is becoming a frequent problem in Minneapolis. While leaders work on long-term solutions, the Minneapolis Fire Department and outreach workers are picking up the slack. In a parking lot off 27th and Bloomington Avenue, across from Minneapolis Fire Station 5, it takes less than a minute to stumble upon a stray needle.
- PUB DATE: 7/26/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WCCO-TV CBS 4 Minneapolis

Your first 100 days as fire chief are a critical time to make a positive impression and to lay a meaningful foundation for the future. Having a 100-day plan before you take over is the first step to being successful. Fire Chiefs John Butler, Fairfax County (Virginia) Fire Chief John Butler and Al Yancey, Jr.
- PUB DATE: 7/26/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: IAFC.org

It started when hot autumn winds snapped a power line east of Paradise, California, showering the ground with sparks. Flames shot up in dry grass near the Feather River, fanned into nearby pine trees and raced 8 miles to town. Eighty-five people died and nearly 19,000 buildings were destroyed in the Camp Fire, the state's deadliest wildfire.
- PUB DATE: 7/26/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: USA Today

On Tuesday, an abandoned house on the 1300 block of West Miller Street in Springfield went up in flames. Unfortunately, the house was fully engulfed in flames when crews arrived. The damage caused the floors to begin caving in. One firefighter fell through the depleting floors. He was later taken to the hospital for his injuries.
- PUB DATE: 7/25/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WRSP-TV FOX 55 Springfield

Emerging technologies could allow first responders to call up all sorts of information when responding to an emergency, but there is some uncertainty about what information is useful, how it should be displayed, and how emergency personnel could control which information to access and when. NC State is working with first responders to address these questions.
- PUB DATE: 7/25/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: North Carolina State University

Fire seasons in 2017 and 2018 caused the residents of California to take a long, hard look at themselves, their electricity providers, the way their forests are managed, what their evacuation plans look like, and whether their homes are protected. Communities on the Central Coast face fire yearly, from Lake Nacimiento to the forested hills outside of Santa Barbara.
- PUB DATE: 7/25/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New Times

VIDEO: Heart health is a key focus for firefighters. With heavy lifting and gear, the body can take on a lot of stress. In 2018, 64 firefighters were lost in the national line of duty — almost half of those were related to sudden cardiac arrest. That’s one of the reasons why fire departments throughout the area gathered together for a fitness-based training session, hosted by the Gates Fire District.
- PUB DATE: 7/25/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WROC-TV CBS 8 Rochester

The Senate voted Tuesday to extend funding for first responders suffering health problems as a result of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. In a 97-2 vote, the Senate overwhelmingly passed the bill that would effectively make the victims’ compensation fund for 9/11 first responders and other victims of the attacks permanent.
- PUB DATE: 7/24/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WNBC-TV NBC 4 New York

When Stan Caplan built his retirement home on the ridge of a majestic chaparral-covered hillside in an affluent gated community in Rancho Santa Fe, he wasn’t thinking much about insuring his property against wildfire. Today, the issue has been consuming the 70-year-old Texas transplant. In June, he received a letter in the mail that his homeowner’s insurance was being canceled because of the “increased frequency of catastrophic wildfires in California.
- PUB DATE: 7/24/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: San Diego Union-Tribune - Metered Site

A record that stood for nearly 30 years fell this past week when the roster at the Alaska Smokejumper Base at Fort Wainwright was filled with the names of 206 jumpers at the same time. That’s more than half of the roughly 400 smokejumpers on rosters nationwide this year. The previous record in Alaska was 202 jumpers on the roster at once.
- PUB DATE: 7/24/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fire Aviation

You may have heard that freeze-dried food was invented to feed astronauts on the Apollo missions, and although “astronaut ice cream” was never actually used during the operations, it was developed for NASA in the 1960s. Two other items people commonly believe originated with Apollo 11 are Tang and Teflon, but this is apocryphal — NASA isn’t responsible for your non-stick pans or your fruit drink mix.
- PUB DATE: 7/24/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Digital Trends

King William County allocates more than a half-million dollars to volunteer fire organizations each year, but county officials say they have little, if any, oversight. The county has budgeted $1.43 million for fire and emergency services for the fiscal year that started July 1, according to the county’s adopted budget.
- PUB DATE: 7/24/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Virginia Gazette

Global climate change could make fire seasons more severe, and loss of critical technology more frequent, according to some fire officials. However, one Bay Area county is the first to secure funding for new equipment to help first responders in the event of catastrophe. In the case of natural disasters, first responders depend on communications infrastructure to warn the public, and plan their response.
- PUB DATE: 7/23/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTVU-TV FOX 2 Oakland

A bigger, better, faster and stronger fire district. That is what the fire chiefs of two local fire districts say a proposed merger would bring to their communities. On the Aug. 6 primary ballot is a proposal to merge District 8 in Lake Stevens into Snohomish County District 7, which serves more than 116,000 people from Mill Creek to Monroe and beyond.
- PUB DATE: 7/23/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: HeraldNet.com - Metered Site